List of Sword Art Online characters

The following is a list of characters from the light novel, anime and manga series Sword Art Online. Most of the characters are introduced as gamers who play and consequently become trapped in a virtual reality massively multiplayer online role-playing game (VRMMORPG). The series chronicles their interactions in multiple online worlds: Sword Art Online (SAO), ALfheim Online (ALO), Gun Gale Online (GGO), and Underworld (UW).

Kirito

 * Kirito (キリト) / Kazuto Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 和人)



As the main protagonist of Sword Art Online, Kirito was chosen to be one of the one thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, and later joined the official version of the game where he became one of the 10,000 players trapped in Sword Art Online. During the start of SAO, he befriended a girl named Asuna. During the 1st Floor Boss, as Illfang the Kobold Lord's weaponry and attack patterns differed from the beta, while the raid party relied on Argo's published beta test version of information about it, Diavel was killed by the monster while attempting to obtain the Last Attack bonus. Because of this, the hatred for beta testers resurfaced and threatened to go out of control. Kirito decided to end the tension by claiming that a majority of beta testers were inefficient and incapable players, while only a select few of the beta testers like himself resulted the creation of the category Beater and Kirito remained a solo player for majority of the game.

During the time Kirito spent in SAO, Kirito joined a guild named the Moonlit Black Cats, but he keeps his character's level a secret thus, this resulted the entire guild being killed by monsters and that led to Kirito wallowing in his despair and self-loathing until he read the time delayed message Sachi left for Kirito on Christmas Eve. This event refraining Kirito from joining another guild. Kirito befriended a girl named Silica and helped her revive her pet Pina. Later, Kirito meets a blacksmith named Lisbeth, who forges a new sword for Kirito after he unlocked a unique skill, Dual Blades although he kept it hidden to avoid attention however, he was forced to reveal it during 74th Floor Boss fight in order to save the people nearby as they couldn't leave by teleport crystal and defeating the boss. Later he was forced to join the Knight of Blood Oath after the revelation of his unique skill and accepted the duel against Heathcliff for allowing Asuna to go with him and lost. He soon begin to develop a relationship with Asuna and later married her in-game. Later, Kirito exposed Heathcliff as Kayaba after 75th Floor Boss. He faced him in a one on one duel with a condition; to allow every player to logout if Kirito wins, and manages to defeat him ending SAO with a total of 6,147 survivors.

Despite the completion of SAO, Asuna remains unconscious and Kirito learned from Agil that Asuna is trapped in another virtual reality called Alfheim Online. Logging into Alfheim Online to rescue her, where he meets a player name Leafa, who is unknowingly, is his younger sister Suguha; who agrees to guide him to the head toward to the top of the giant World Tree, in order to get to Asuna. Arriving there and tried to get to the top of World Tree, but rescue by Leafa where he soon learns Leafa's identity as Suguha where Suguha reveals her feelings for him in the real world. Not knowing how to respond or comfort her, Kazuto tells her he will be waiting for her in game. When they meet up they engage in a fight which culminates with both of them letting down their guard expecting the other one to kill them, however that only leads to them hugging and apologizing to each other. Leafa lets go of her feelings for Kirito and after pulling herself together Leafa helps him rescue Asuna from the top of the world tree.

Eventually Kirito manages to reach to the top of the World Tree and see Asuna again where he was confronted by Sugou going by Oberon, binding them both with gravity magic. Oberon then stabbed Kirito with his sword, and then critically damaging Kirito by increasing Kirito's pain limit and impaling him. When the consciousness of Akihiko Kayaba reminded Kirito how he was defeated by Kirito's determination and give him his admin ID and password and remove Sugou's GM status, Kirito then blinds and dismembers him after setting Sugou's pain limit to the maximum declaring the pain was much more painful in SAO compared to ALO. After rescuing Asuna, he soon receives a program from Kayaba called the World Seed which revitalizes the VRMMORPG genre, after Kirito has it upload by Agil on the Internet.

Ren

 * Ren (キリト) / Renya Nakamura (中村廉也)



The Main Deuteragonist of Sword Art Online Ren was chosen to be one of the one thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, and later joined the official version of the game Where He become one of the 50,000 players trap in Sword Art Online.

Shuto

 * Shuto (キリト) / Shuichi Tomatsu (中村廉也)



Asuna

 * Asuna (キリト) / Asuna Yuuki (結城 明日奈)



The main heroine of Sword Art Online and main protagonist of the seventh volume, Asuna is a friend and later to be wife of Kirito in Sword Art Online and a sub-leader of the "Knights of the Blood Oath", a medium-sized guild acknowledged as the strongest guild in Aincrad. Being one of the few girls that play SAO and extremely attractive, she receives many invitations and proposals. Asuna is a strong-willed, accomplished player known in-game as the "Flash" for her extraordinary fast sword skill. Later, she falls in love with Kirito and they marry in-game after saving him from being killed by Kuradeel. Towards the end of the SAO arc, she saves Kirito from a killing blow by Heathcliff at the cost of her life. However, her death was only in-game and she is shortly reunited with Kirito shortly after the death of Heathcliff.

Despite the completion of SAO, Asuna remains unconscious and is instead detained in another virtual reality called Alfheim Online. She is forced to play the role of «Titania the Queen of Fairies», with Nobuyuki Sugō, the man responsible for imprisoning her, playing as Oberon the Fairy King. This is done so that Sugō could marry Asuna in the real world, while she is unconscious and thus take over RCT Progress Inc. She attempts to escape the World Tree where she is imprisoned and manages to steal a GM card which she throws out of the window when she hears Yui's voice. Upon being released she creates two avatars for Alfheim, Asuna (being the healer of the team) and Erika (a battle-type avatar), and went on to continue living together with Kirito. She enrolls at the SAO Survivor School with Kazuto Kirigaya in the real world after everything ended. In the real world, Asuna's parents want her to follow in their footsteps. However, after living in SAO and meeting Kirito, she gains a different perspective and looks back on her past with disgust. She officially becomes Kazuto's real-life girlfriend and dreams of marrying him and having a family with him in the future.

Leafa

 * Leafa (キリト) / Suguha Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 和人)



Suguha, also known as Sugu, is Kirito's "sister" in the real world; she is in actuality his cousin, as her mother had been raising her sister's child from a young age after his Parents died from a Accident, though neither Suguha nor Kirito knew about this until later. She is a diligent worker and has been practicing kendo for 8 years, partially to escape the loneliness and isolation in her life. After Kazuto Kirigaya (the name of Kirito in real life) gets trapped in Sword Art Online, she begins playing Alfheim Online as a Sylph in an attempt to try to understand him better, and it is at this time that she finds out they are cousins rather than siblings; with her mother revealing to her that he is not her biological brother, but is actually her cousin and was adopted into their family when he was young. This causes Sugu to develop feelings for him that she doesn't really understand; however, because he is trapped inside SAO, she never acts on them. That being said, when Kazuto awakens after his two-year ordeal, those feelings come back, but she realizes that he is already in love with someone else, namely Asuna.

Coincidentally, she meets Kazuto's avatar, Kirito, in Alfheim Online after he saves her from an attack by player killers. Unaware of his true identity, she decides to help him on his quest to find somebody which eventually leads them to the world tree. After understanding the depth of Kazuto's love for Asuna, she resolves to give up on him and instead becomes attached to Kirito in ALO. However, when Kirito's true identity is revealed, she is heartbroken and the two of them have an awkward exchange in the real world where Sugu reveals her feelings for him. Not knowing how to respond or comfort her, Kazuto tells her he will be waiting for her in game. When they meet up they engage in a fight which culminates with both of them letting down their guard expecting the other one to kill them, however that only leads to them hugging and apologizing to each other. Leafa lets go of her feelings for Kirito and after pulling herself together she helps him rescue Asuna from the top of the world tree. She regularly plays ALO together with Kirito, Asuna, Silica, Klein and the rest of their group. Leafa, Lisbeth and Silica also feature as protagonists in the spin-off manga series Sword Art Online: Girls' Ops, where they form a team with Kirito away on a study program and Asuna tied up in family affairs.

Yui

 * Yui (ユイ)

Originally a side-story character in SAO, Yui later becomes an accompanying/support character in ALO. At first thought to be a lost child in SAO, she is an artificial intelligence. Her full designation is «Mental Health – Counselling Program», MHCP version 1, codename, «Yui». Yui is shown to have a human form and a Navigation Pixie form where she is always barefoot in both forms. She was designed to monitor the emotions of players and appear at their sides to hear and help them out. However, since the moment everyone was imprisoned in Sword Art Online, she was forbidden to come in contact with the players and complete her prime directive. Unable to do anything but suffer as she monitored the emotions of the trapped players, she came upon Kirito and Asuna whose emotions stood out as a beacon of joy and peace in a sea of fear and despair. She sought them out, appearing to them as an amnesiac child whom they adopted. In the end she was nearly deleted by Cardinal, the management system of SAO, but is saved by Kirito by converting and storing her data into his own NerveGear. Yui later shows up in ALO as a Private Navigation Pixie and helps Kirito along with Leafa to find Asuna. She refers to Kirito as "Daddy" and Asuna as "Mommy" and gets very annoyed if any girl other than Sinon, Leafa or Asuna gets close to Kirito. Kirito uses his skills and resources in the real world to construct a device for Yui to view the real world even while she is in virtual reality and gives her the ability to communicate with them.

Klein

 * Klein (クライン) / Ryōtarō Tsuboi (壷井 遼太郎)
 * (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)

A friendly player that meets Kirito at the start of the game, who quickly befriends and learns the basics from Kirito. They go their separate ways shortly after when Kirito leaves for another town to power level, while Klein remains behind to help out his less experienced friends, although he is concerned for Kirito due to his solitude and recklessness. Klein uses a katana to fight and later becomes a leader of his own guild, Fuurinkazan. He regularly meets with Kirito and his friends and occasionally joins them in quests in ALO, especially after the release of the World Seed.

In an interview with Sword Art Online author Reki Kawahara, he noted that Agil and Klein are both "very popular", and he wanted to write short stories centred around their characters.

Raze
Is a One Handed sword wielder and was chosen to be one of the Ten thousand beta testers for the closed beta of Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (VRMMORPG) for the NerveGear, and later joined the official version of the game Where He become one of the 50,000 players trapped in Sword Art Online.

He became

Agil

 * Agil (エギル) / Andrew Gilbert Mills (アンドリュー・ギルバート・ミルズ)

A bald, black axe wielder who owns a general shop in SAO, along with having a hand in Blacksmithing. Agil is 195 cm tall with a muscular build. Despite his intimidating appearance, he is kind-hearted and spent most of his earnings to help players in the middle floors. Kirito is a regular in his shop and they are friends. Agil runs a bar named "Dicey Café" in the real world, which was run by his wife during his two-year coma. The café later becomes Kazuto and company's meeting place in the real world.

In an interview with Sword Art Online author Reki Kawahara, he noted that Agil and Klein are both "very popular", and he wanted to write short stories centred around their characters.

Sachi

 * Sachi (サチ)

Silica

 * Silica (シリカ) / Keiko Ayano (綾野 珪子)

A side-story character in SAO. One of the rare beast tamers in the game. Very early in the game, she was able to tame a small dragon, Pina (ピナ), who is named after her real-life cat: this feat gave her immense fame, but she was just a mid-level player. Due to her fame, many tried to get on her good side, causing her to get a bit of an inflated head. She usually stays away from the males, who try to marry her (despite the fact that she's only 13) or make her their "mascot." After getting lost in a forest, Pina is killed trying to save Silica from a monster attack. Kirito rescued and helped Silica get the "Pneuma Flower", an item that can revive tamed beasts, as she resembled his sister. She gained feelings for him, but once she discovers his skills, she realized that they cannot be together in the game but promise to meet again. Keiko befriends Rika at SAO Survivor School. She joins Kirito and his friends in ALO right after they meet in the real world: they often go together in quests.

Sword Art Online girls (including Silica) feature in a merchandise lottery by Bandai, where they are depicted in french maid clothing with cooking utensils, with Anime News Network humorously noting that they have "brought in a pretty penny for the franchise's creators." In an interview with Haruka Tomatsu, Asuna's voice actor, she nominated Silica as her favourite character as she is "the kind of character I would want to have as a little sister."

Silica was awarded 18th in a Dengeki Bunko character poll for their light novels.

Lisbeth

 * Lisbeth (リズベット) / Rika Shinozaki (篠崎 里香)

A side-story character in SAO, who is a blacksmith with her own shop and takes great pride in her abilities. Lisbeth or "Liz" is a close friend of Asuna who recommended her to Kirito. Kirito commissioned Liz to forge a custom-made sword for him and accompanies her in a quest for the special ore required for the job. During the quest, she also develops feelings for Kirito. She is devastated when she finds out that Kirito is Asuna's crush. However, she finds some solace after Kirito thanks her for giving him a renewed determination to fight on and clear the game. She requests to be Kirito's exclusive blacksmith. Rika is almost very well teasing Asuna about her relationship with Kirito afterwards. At SAO Survivor School, she and Keiko get irritated when seeing Kazuto and Asuna together. Liz later becomes a regular player in ALO and frequently joins Kirito and his friends in quests and takes up the task of upgrading their equipment.

Sword Art Online girls (including Lisbeth) feature in a merchandise lottery by Bandai, where they are depicted in french maid clothing with cooking utensils, with Anime News Network humorously noting that they have "brought in a pretty penny for the franchise's creators." Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, the Japanese voice talent for Kirito, mentioned Lisbeth as his favourite character, since "Liz is really straight-forward and focused inside of the world of Sword Art Online, but then there was that scene when she learned that her best friend Asuna was in love with Kirito... Maybe it was [Ayahi] Takagaki's acting, but when I heard that her lines during that scene, I was like, wow."

Yuuki

 * Yuuki (ユウキ) / Yuuki Konno (紺野 木綿季)

One of the main characters from Volume 7. She was an Imp in ALO, she started dueling anyone promising an 11-hit Original Sword Skill (OSS) if she's defeated: due to her undefeated status she's given the title "Absolute Sword". Eventually Asuna fights her but loses. After the fight Yuuki asks her to help defeating the 27th Floor boss with her guild the "Sleeping Knights" in desire to etch all their names on the Monument of Swordsmen to make a memory. After certain events, which include the defeat of the boss it is revealed that Yuuki has HIV/AIDS and the guild members are patients in terminal state: to test the Medicuboid device, designed supposedly by Rinko Koujiro, in care for future patients. Yuuki forms a strong bond with Asuna, in reminder of her late elder sister Aiko Konno. With the time passing Yuuki's condition deteriorates and after she entrusts her OSS «Mother's Rosario» to Asuna before she dies peacefully in ALO, surrounded by over 1000 players from every tribe in the game, including her guild members, Asuna and her friends.

Sword Art Online girls (including Yuuki) feature in a merchandise lottery by Bandai, where they are depicted in french maid clothing with cooking utensils, with Anime News Network humorously noting that they have "brought in a pretty penny for the franchise's creators." She also features in promotional advertisements for a series of Umaibo puffed corn snacks by Namco. Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku complimented Yuuki as a "powerfully human" character, writing "Like with the classic Beowulf, Yuuki finds her meaning and immortality in the written word. For her, having her name (and those of her soon-to-pass-away friends) on a virtual wall for all eternity is proof that she existed. To her, even that is enough."

Yuuki was awarded fifth in a Dengeki Bunko character poll for their light novels.

Heathcliff

 * Heathcliff (ヒースクリフ) / Akihiko Kayaba (茅場 晶彦)

Akihiko Kayaba is the director and creator of the NerveGear and Sword Art Online, as well as the main antagonist of the SAO arc. He traps all the players within SAO by using the NerveGear to obstruct signals from the user's brain. Any in-game death or attempt at removal of the NerveGear would result in the real-life death of the user. Later, it is discovered that he has been posing as Heathcliff, the leader of the Knights of the Blood Oath. Although he has the admin authority to make his avatar immortal, he is shown to be a powerful player even without his in-game immortality due to his intimate understanding of the SAO game mechanics which he himself had designed. His only goal in life was to make Aincrad a reality. He is destroyed by Kirito at the end of Volume 4, leaving behind a program that grants Kirito the World Seed. His death is his own doing since he has also rigged his own Soul Translator device to kill him when he is destroyed and transfer his soul into a digital form onto the Internet.

Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku compared Heathcliff poorly to the series' second villain, Oberon, writing "How do you make a better villain than a man who trapped 10,000 people in a death game for no adequately explained reason? Easy. You just show how good that guy was by comparison to the new villain."

Oberon

 * Oberon the Fairy King (妖精王オベイロン) / Nobuyuki Sugō (須郷 伸之)

Nobuyuki Sugō is the main antagonist of the Alfheim Online arc. He is the one responsible for keeping 300 NerveGear victims, including Asuna, prisoner even after SAO had ended. He did this by transferring them all into ALO for experiments on human subjugation via fulldive technology. He also attempts to take over RECT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious. He displays a perverse interest in consummating this marriage while Asuna is still comatose. In ALO, he takes on the identity of Oberon the Fairy King and makes Asuna his queen, Titania. When he and Kirito finally meet, he flaunts his GM status as well as the results of his research by critically damaging Kirito by increasing Kirito's pain limit and impaling him. He is destroyed when the "Ghost Program" of Akihiko Kayaba reminded Kirito how he was defeated by Kirito's determination, before aiding him in overcoming Nobuyuki's GM status. Kirito then blinds and dismembers him after setting Sugō's pain limit to the maximum. All 300 victims are released from ALO, but Nobuyuki makes another attempt to attack Kazuto while he is making his way to Asuna in the real world, now blind in one eye and insane after his defeat. However, he is once again subdued by Kazuto, who puts the unarmed combat skills he had learned in SAO to useful effect. Nobuyuki is then arrested and charged for his crimes.

The character was lauded as an "excellent villain" by Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis, describing him as "cowardly, fancies himself a god, and is torturing people just to make money. More than that, he is also constantly threatening to rape Asuna—both in the game and in the real world. Simply put, he has the greatest hallmark of a good villain: He is a guy you love to hate." Responding to criticism of Oberon being a "over-the-top" villain that is "comically evil", Karen Mead of Japanator.com found to be partially true, writing "would the show be better overall if Sugou was a more subtle villain who didn't take every opportunity to be an absolute douche? Maybe, but keep in mind, as a show about online interactions, demonstrating The Greater Internet Dickwad Theory is definitely in SAO's purview. He may not be a great character who's going to make anyone's "Top Villains We Hate to Love and Love to Hate" list, but he's a villain that makes perfect sense within the context of SAO's world."

Theron Martin of Anime News Network found Sugō's character to a "over the top villain" and "the second arc's biggest stumbling block". However, Rebecca Silverman (also of Anime News Network) disagreed, writing "Sugou actually feels the least over-the-top as he plots how to use the VR technology for his own ends [when compared to the other characters]", and praised him as "nicely evil".

Death Gun
Death Gun is the main antagonist of the GGO arc, a player killer whose victims somehow die in the real world after being shot by his signature gun, a Type 54 "Black Star" he named «Death Gun». In reality, Death Gun's actual user name is Sterben and is an alternate account created by Kyōji Shinkawa in the image of his brother's SAO avatar. He and his brother, a former member of the red SAO guild Laughing Coffin, used the Death Gun account to commit murder: Kyōji normally posing as Sterben and using a «Metamaterial Optical Camouflage Mantle» to spy on other players inputting their real life details so his brother can make his way to the house of a potential victim to inject the person with succinylcholine, a drug capable of stopping the heart, at the exact moment the victim's player is shot. During the Bullet of Bullets Tournament, the brothers switched roles while enlisting another Laughing Coffin member to assist them due to the multiple victims they selected.
 * Suteruben (ステルベン) / Death Gun (死銃)


 * Akame no Zaza (赤眼のザザ) / Shōichi Shinkawa (新川 昌一)
 * One of Laughing Coffin's elite members, Red-Eyed XaXa is a sadist who believed in PoH's principles as he became the red guild's second-in-command. In real life, Shoichi's father did not have any expectations for him due to him being frail and sick. After SAO ended, having met Kirito during the Inner-Area incident to neutralize Laughing Coffin, Shoichi aided in Kyōji's Death Gun scheme before he eventually starts playing GGO under the Sterben account. Shoichi entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament to prove his "true" killing ability to the rest of the world, only to be defeated by Kirito and Ren before he and his brother are arrested after the GGO arc.
 * One of Laughing Coffin's elite members, Red-Eyed XaXa is a sadist who believed in PoH's principles as he became the red guild's second-in-command. In real life, Shoichi's father did not have any expectations for him due to him being frail and sick. After SAO ended, having met Kirito during the Inner-Area incident to neutralize Laughing Coffin, Shoichi aided in Kyōji's Death Gun scheme before he eventually starts playing GGO under the Sterben account. Shoichi entered the Bullet of Bullets tournament to prove his "true" killing ability to the rest of the world, only to be defeated by Kirito and Ren before he and his brother are arrested after the GGO arc.


 * Shupīgeru (シュピーゲル) / Kyōji Shinkawa (新川 恭二)
 * Shino's friend both in the real world and GGO, in fact he was the one who introduced Shino to GGO in the first place as a form of immersion therapy for her fear of guns. Having been forced to bare the pressure of taking over his family's hospital while bullied at school, Kyōji was more fascinated with Shoichi's murderous exploits in SAO while becoming disillusioned with the real world. Kyōji finally snaps after a famous GGO player tricked him and multiple other newer players into creating weak, agility focused avatars knowing that there was going to be a patch that would give his strength focused character an edge in the upcoming Bullet of Bullets tournament. This resulted with Kyōji creating the Sterben account in XaXa's image and committing murders as Death Gun with the help of XaXa and Johnny Black. Kyōji is also revealed to be romantically obsessed with Shino, having Shoichi be Death Gun during the BoB so he can personally kill her in a murder-suicide and be "reborn" with her in a new world where their modern worries won't exist. But Kirito manages to save Shino and Kyōji is placed in police custody.
 * Shino's friend both in the real world and GGO, in fact he was the one who introduced Shino to GGO in the first place as a form of immersion therapy for her fear of guns. Having been forced to bare the pressure of taking over his family's hospital while bullied at school, Kyōji was more fascinated with Shoichi's murderous exploits in SAO while becoming disillusioned with the real world. Kyōji finally snaps after a famous GGO player tricked him and multiple other newer players into creating weak, agility focused avatars knowing that there was going to be a patch that would give his strength focused character an edge in the upcoming Bullet of Bullets tournament. This resulted with Kyōji creating the Sterben account in XaXa's image and committing murders as Death Gun with the help of XaXa and Johnny Black. Kyōji is also revealed to be romantically obsessed with Shino, having Shoichi be Death Gun during the BoB so he can personally kill her in a murder-suicide and be "reborn" with her in a new world where their modern worries won't exist. But Kirito manages to save Shino and Kyōji is placed in police custody.


 * Jonī Burakku (ジョニー・ブラック) / Atsushi Kanemoto (金本 敦)
 * One of Laughing Coffin's elite members, Johnny Black is a cold-blooded killer who likes to play with his victims as he once suggested to XaXa and PoH to have a fight-to-the-death with their captives Schmitt, Caynz, and Yolko for fun. Sometime after SAO, Atsushi helped Shoichi and his brother in their Death Gun scheme and was the only member of their gang to escape arrest. But six months later, Atsushi returns and attempts to kill Kazuto and Asuna in the real world but had his neck frature by Renya during the attempt and was subdue and capture by the Police. Though arrested, Atsushi came close to killing Kazuto and Ren with a succinylcholine syringe.
 * One of Laughing Coffin's elite members, Johnny Black is a cold-blooded killer who likes to play with his victims as he once suggested to XaXa and PoH to have a fight-to-the-death with their captives Schmitt, Caynz, and Yolko for fun. Sometime after SAO, Atsushi helped Shoichi and his brother in their Death Gun scheme and was the only member of their gang to escape arrest. But six months later, Atsushi returns and attempts to kill Kazuto and Asuna in the real world but had his neck frature by Renya during the attempt and was subdue and capture by the Police. Though arrested, Atsushi came close to killing Kazuto and Ren with a succinylcholine syringe.

Thrym

 * Thrym (スリュム)

The King of the Frost Giants and final boss of the Calibur sidestory, Thrym is an artificial intelligence that ALO's Cardinal System created from the actual Norse myth. But in a departure from usual NPCs, Thrym is one of few whose core programming is connected to ALO's language engine to be a more realistic character. In the game storyline, Thyrm emerged from Aflheim and used the stolen Excalibur to conquer the Hill Giants' realm of Jötunheim. With Jötunheim turned to a frozen wasteland after losing the World Tree's blessing, Thrym created his fortress Thrymheim from the frozen spring of the Hill Giant leader Urðr, after its waters were lodged in the tree's receding roots. Thrym then uses his forces, and players he recruits on a false quest, to slaughter the native beasts to cripple the power of Urðr and her sisters so he can reach the surface of Alfheim and obtain the golden apple growing on top of the World Tree. But as Kirito and his party realize upon taking Urðr's quest to stop him, Thrym's actions would cause a chain of events that would result in the Ragnarok scenario and ultimately reset ALO. The group find Thrym and manage to defeat him with the help of a NPC named Freyja, who was revealed to be Thor in disguise.

Quinella
The true ruler of Underworld, the highest minister of the Axiom Church and the main antagonist of the Underworld arc. 350 years before Kirito would enter the Underworld, Quinella was born. She was given the sacred task of studying the Sacred Arts. Soon, she learned that by killing others, one's stats could be raised, so every night she snuck out and killed the animals of the forest, which would respawn everyday anyway. She raised her stats to a ridiculously high level and decided to take control over the Underworld. Fooling people into believing she was a goddess, she created the Axiom Church and made laws to control the people. She studied the Sacred Arts intensely, trying to find a way to transcend the limit of that world, the «Life» of that world. She finds the System Control Authority command on the brink of death and immediately uses it to heal herself, restoring her beauty and «Life» to her former appearance as a youth.
 * Quinella (クィネラ)

Others

 * PoH / Vassago Casals (ヴァサゴ カザルス)

PoH is the leader of the SAO "Red player" guild, Laughing Coffin. He created the guild for the sole purpose of killing other players. His catch phrase is "It's showtime". His fate after SAO is unknown, but it is assumed he is still alive (with at least ten more LC members), since he was not listed as one of the deceased players. PoH stands for Prince of Hell and he worked for a terrorist/mercenary group during this arc. He is an illegitimate child of a Korean after a rape incident. The two migrated to Japan, and a certain CEO fell in love with his mother and took them in. This led to his hatred against people.


 * Kuradīru (クラディール)

A Two-Handed Sword user. Publicly a member of "Knights of the Blood Oath" and secretly a member of the red guild "Laughing Coffin". He was officially assigned as Asuna's bodyguard and despite his grudge develops an obsession with Asuna and begins secretly following her everywhere. When he sees that Kirito and Asuna are developing a relationship, he challenges Kirito to a duel over who can protect her. Kirito wins and Kuradeel is forced to leave. He later tries to murder Kirito and then Asuna, but is instead killed by Kirito at the last second.


 * Argo (アルゴ)

Argo is a friend and fellow beta tester of Kirito in SAO. Known as "Argo the Rat" she works as a Knowledge Broker and messenger.


 * Sāsha (サーシャ)

Sasha is a caretaker of the younger SAO players in Town of Beginnings on the 1st Floor.


 * Yoruko (ヨルコ)

Yolko is a member of the Golden Apple guild. Her boyfriend is Caynz.


 * Yuriēru (ユリエール)

Yulier is second-in-command of the Liberation Force Army. She is devoted to aiding Thinker with his duties as leader. Thinker married her in real life.

Sakuya

 * Sakuya (サクヤ)

She is the leader of the Sylph. During a meeting with the Cait Sith, she is attacked by Salamanders led by General Eugene. At the same moment, Kirito flies in to challenge the general to a duel. After Kirito wins the battle, she attempts to seduce him to join the Slyphs, but Leafa smothers their attempt, saying that she is accompanying him to the World Tree. At the end of the arc, Lady Sakuya leads a combined force of Cait Sith and Sylph against the World Tree's Guardians in an attempt to aid Kirito with the battle. After Kirito reached the top of the World Tree, she ordered her forces to pull back. Sakuya is later seen with Alicia and Sylph warriors and a few Cait Sith flying towards New Aincrad.

Alicia Rue

 * Alicia Rue (アリシャ・ルー)

She is the leader of the Cait Sith. She was elected for the position of leader by popular vote. She is capable of using the high-level magic «Moonlight Mirror». She forms an alliance with the Sylphs to finish the «Conquer the World Tree Quest».

During the Cait Sith meeting with the Sylph at the Butterfly Valley, the groups were attacked by Salamanders led by General Eugene. Kirito dived in to save the day and fought off Eugene, even though Kirito had inferior equipment. After the Salamanders left the area and Kirito revealed that he was not working for anyone, Alicia tried to seduce Kirito into coming to the Cait Sith territory and working for them, but he declined her offer by saying that he had to go to the World Tree. The next day, along with Sylph reinforcements, she and her squadron of Cait Sith riders, on tamed dragons, aided Kirito's ascension of the World Tree after using the collected funds to purchase armor of at least Ancient grade for all of her warriors. After Kirito managed to get through to the top of the tree, she withdrew her forces from the area. Alicia is later seen with Sakuya and a few Cait Sith and Sylph warriors flying towards New Aincrad.

Recon

 * Recon (レコン) / Shin'ichi Nagata (長田 慎一)

Suguha's classmate in the real world. He introduced ALO to Suguha who asked him about VRMMO. In ALO, he is a Sylph dagger wielder and dark mage. He also displays an obvious romantic interest in Suguha, although the feelings are not mutual.

Eugene

 * Eugene (ユージン)

General Eugene intended to disrupt the Cait Sith and Sylph alliance conference. Earlier, Recon manages to learn of the attack and warns Leafa. She and Kirito rush to stop the confrontation, but Eugene challenges the Spriggan to a one-on-one duel. At first, Kirito was forced to defend himself against the onslaught of the Earth-style weapon of Eugene, but Kirito takes Leafa's katana to prepare for his notable «Dual Blades». With this extra blade, Eugene could not breach Kirito's defenses and was quickly defeated. After the duel, he was revived by Sakuya and leaves the scene with his forces on good terms. Before the duel, Eugene was considered the strongest player in the game.

Chrysheight

 * Chrysheight (クリスハイト) / Seijirō Kikuoka (菊岡征二郎)

Kikuoka Seijirō is a member of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. After the SAO incident, he interviewed Kazuto for information regarding the events that transpired during the game, in exchange for information on Asuna's whereabouts. After the events of the Fairy Dance arc he has another meeting with Kazuto, to recap the events of SAO again, as well as the events of ALO. He began playing ALO under the name Chrysheight and later contacts Kirito to investigate the Death Gun deaths in GGO.

After Kazuto is attacked in the real world by Johnny Black, Kikouka abducts Kazuto from the hospital and transports him to the Ocean Turtle in order to give him medical treatment for the brain damage he received. It's revealed that Kikouka also is head of RATH, a company under the Ministry of Defense, that is trying to develop AI suitable for replacing humans on a battle-field.

Alice Zuberg

 * Alice Zuberg (アリス・ツーベルク)

The mysterious girl who was Kirito's "childhood friend", along with Eugeo, in UnderWorld. She is captured and supposedly taken away to be executed by the Integrity Knights for breaking the rule by "entering" the Dark Territory. She contacted Kirito, in spirit form, as well as aided in Eugeo's healing, showing that she is still alive and remembered both of them. She also implored them to come find her. It is later revealed, first in a short story, that she had become an Integrity Knight and is confirmed in Volume 11 of the light novels. Her name as an Integrity Knight is Alice Synthesis Thirty (アリス・シンセシス・サーティ).

Alice was awarded fourth in a Dengeki Bunko character poll for their light novels.

Eugeo

 * Eugeo (ユージオ)

A young lad who was also Kirito's "childhood friend" along with Alice in UnderWorld. He has his memories of Kirito purged, along with the rest of the villagers, but recovers them later on, to a certain degree. He has a strong desire to find Alice and in order to do so, Kirito teaches him his "Aincrad-style" sword skills.

Eugeo was awarded sixth in a Dengeki Bunko character poll for their light novels.

Selka Zuberg
Younger sister of Alice and an apprentice of Sister Azariya. She is capable of wielding the Sacred Arts but dislikes being compared to her sister. She does not remember Kirito, but is put in charge of him upon his "return".
 * Selka Zuberg (セルカ・ツーベルク)

Cardinal
The Cardinal System, the one with complete control and authority in SAO, it controls everything. In ALO, the only other VRMMORPG to have it, it has partial control. During the Alicization Arc, in the Underworld, it takes the form of a scrawny 10-year-old girl, who lives in the Great Library Room. Cardinal does not have any control of the Underworld and only has powers in the Library because Quinella used the System Control Authority to revoke Cardinal's rights.
 * Cardinal (カーディナル)

Ronye Arabel
Kirito's valet in the Sword Mastery Academy. She ranked in the top 12 of her year, thus qualifying her to be a valet of an elite swordsman. Since she was of the lowest Noble Class, along with Tiese, she was not chosen by any of the elite swordsmen except for Kirito who opted to take the last remaining valet.
 * Ronye Arabel (ロニエ・アラベル)

Tiese Schtrinen
Eugeo's valet in the Sword Mastery Academy. She ranked in the top 12 of her year, thus qualifying her to be a valet of an elite swordsman. Since she was of the lowest Noble Class, along with Ronye, she was not chosen by any of the elite swordsmen except for Eugeo who opted to take the last remaining valet. She entered the Academy in order to raise her family's social status.
 * Tiese Schtrinen (ティーゼ・シュトリーネン)

Other UW residences
The following is a list of all other known Integrity Knights:


 * Bercouli (ベルクーリ) / Bercouli Synthesis One (ベルクーリ・シンセシス・ワン)
 * Fanatio (ファナティオ) / Fanatio Synthesis Two (ファナティオ・シンセシス・ツー)
 * Deusolbert (デュソルバート) / Deusolbert Synthesis Seven (デュソルバート・シンセシス・セブン)
 * Linel (リネル) / Linel Synthesis Twenty-Eight (リネル・シンセシス・トゥエニエイト)
 * Fizel (フィゼル) / Fizel Synthesis Twenty-Nine (フィゼル・シンセシス・トゥエニナイン)
 * Eldrie Woolsburg (エルドリエ・ウールスブルーグ) / Eldrie Synthesis Thirty-one (エルドリエ・シンセシス・サーティワン)

Midori Kirigaya

 * Midori Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 翠)
 * Midori is Suguha's mother, as well as Kazuto's aunt and foster mother in the real world. She cares deeply for both her children. In Volume 10, she is assured by the authorities of Kazuto's safety. In reality, Kazuto's comatose body was kidnapped by Kikuoka Seijirou. When Asuna and Suguha tried to tell her their suspicions, she did not believe them.
 * Midori is Suguha's mother, as well as Kazuto's aunt and foster mother in the real world. She cares deeply for both her children. In Volume 10, she is assured by the authorities of Kazuto's safety. In reality, Kazuto's comatose body was kidnapped by Kikuoka Seijirou. When Asuna and Suguha tried to tell her their suspicions, she did not believe them.

Shōzō Yuuki

 * Shōzō Yuuki (結城 彰三)
 * Shōzō is Asuna's father and the former CEO of RECT Progress Inc, which goes bankrupt after the company is partly held responsible for Sugō's crimes.
 * Shōzō is Asuna's father and the former CEO of RECT Progress Inc, which goes bankrupt after the company is partly held responsible for Sugō's crimes.

Silver Crow

 * Silver Crow (シルバー・クロウ) / Haruyuki Arita (有田 春雪)
 * Silver Crow is the main character of Accel World, another of Reki Kawahara's light novels who appears to confront Kirito in a crossover side story. As he is the sub combiner of Takumu, he forms into a two combined gestalt Gene-Linker Silver Crow.
 * Silver Crow is the main character of Accel World, another of Reki Kawahara's light novels who appears to confront Kirito in a crossover side story. As he is the sub combiner of Takumu, he forms into a two combined gestalt Gene-Linker Silver Crow.

Endou

 * Endou (遠藤)
 * Endou is a manipulative person who approached Shino and pretended to be her friend just to be able to use Shino's home for personal use and as a place to stay overnight after getting drunk. She uses Shino's phobia to make her scared of her. After the Death Gun incident, she is surprised to see Shino overcome her phobia.
 * Endou is a manipulative person who approached Shino and pretended to be her friend just to be able to use Shino's home for personal use and as a place to stay overnight after getting drunk. She uses Shino's phobia to make her scared of her. After the Death Gun incident, she is surprised to see Shino overcome her phobia.

Kyouko Yuuki

 * Kyouko Yuuki (結城 京子) / Erika (エリカ)
 * Kyouko is a professor who is Asuna's mother. She attempts to take Asuna under her wing to become a woman with a rich husband, denying her wishes to stay with Kazuto. Though she initially does not understand the fascination of the virtual world, Asuna has her mother visit ALO. There, Kyouko discovers that Asuna's home in ALO looks like her childhood home, a forest-house. The experience inspires Kyouko to tell her daughter to work hard to get the husband she wants.
 * Kyouko is a professor who is Asuna's mother. She attempts to take Asuna under her wing to become a woman with a rich husband, denying her wishes to stay with Kazuto. Though she initially does not understand the fascination of the virtual world, Asuna has her mother visit ALO. There, Kyouko discovers that Asuna's home in ALO looks like her childhood home, a forest-house. The experience inspires Kyouko to tell her daughter to work hard to get the husband she wants.

Rinko Koujiro

 * Rinko Koujiro (神代凛子)
 * Rinko is a professor, co-worker and also a former love-interest of Akihiko Kayaba. In the SAO arc, she initially helped in the development of SAO and when the incident occurred, she was the only person who guessed where Akihiko was. Without telling anyone and avoiding the police, she decided to confront Akihiko in his hidden mountain cottage with the intent to kill him, but she was not able to do so and instead helped maintain Akihiko's physical condition, when he dived into the game for long periods of time. After the incident, the police found the cottage where both of them stayed. While Akihiko had already died after digitizing his brain to the network permanently, Rinko was arrested by the police and awaited her trial.


 * Apparently, she was released on bail from her trial. In the Alicization arc, she has been invited by Kikuoka Seijirou to do a top secret research on the «Soul Translator» technology, but has been reluctant to accept the offer. Until, one day, upon learning Asuna's situation, she agreed to help the girl find Kazuto, so she contacted Kikuoka about accepting the invitation. Rinko and Asuna, traveled to the hidden base of Rath, the «Ocean Turtle».

Philia

 * Philia (フィリア) / Kotone Takemita (琴音)

An "Orange player" and treasure hunter. Kirito met Philia immediately after being suddenly teleported to the Hollow Area region of Aincrad then fight a weakened version of the Skull Reaper. Philia's orange player status was actually a system glitch. She has grown a romantic interest in Kirito when saving her from the clutches of PoH.

Strea

 * Strea (ストレア)

An unknown player who started tailing Kirito after the events of the 75th Floor's boss fight. Throughout the story, Strea would be seen in the Labyrinth searching for «something». Strea was later revealed to actually be a mental-health program, similar to Yui, who was somehow able to appear using an unused avatar that was still registered in Aincrad. However, the near-death experience had slowly altered her data and resulted in her fusion with the «Hollow Avatar». Yui absorbed Strea's program and assured the rest of the group that she was still alive.

Seven

 * Seven (セブン) / Nanairo Arshavin (七色 アルシャービン)

Nanairo Arshavin, nicknamed Seven, is a Russian scientist who is playing ALO to research VR. She graduated from MIT at the age of 12 and is a pop idol, performing concerts in-game as a Pooka. Considered "the light" to Akihiko Kayaba's "darkness", she is the leader of the guild Shamrock in the game. Unlike her guild members, she is of a lower level, and lets them fight for her.

Rain

 * Rain (レイン) / Nijika Karatachi (枳殻 虹架)

A Leprechaun girl who follows Kirito during the events of the game. She is Seven's older sister, and works at a maid cafe when not playing ALO. Like Kirito, she is an SAO survivor and can duel wield. After the events of the game, she meets Kirito in real life, where she reveals the rift between her and Seven; after SAO was cleared, she talked with Kikuoka Seijirō about it, and decided to join ALO.

Sumeragi

 * Sumeragi (スメラギ) / Ryota Sumeragi (住良木 良太)

An Undine and Shamrock leader who is in charge of protecting Seven. A strong swordsman, he defeated General Eugene in combat prior to the events of the game. Outside of ALO, he is Seven's research partner in America.

During the story, Kirito and Sumeragi encounter each other at various times, and the two challenge each other to a duel, which is interrupted. At the final dungeon, Sumeragi and Kirito resume their duel, where the former reveals his Original Sword Skill, which is inspired by the Norse god of war Týr and has the power of a two-handed sword compressed into a one-handed sword.

Sumeragi works as a quantum neurology researcher, and his affiliation with Seven prompted Kikouka to request him to perform surveillance on her while experimenting.

Light novels
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