Yuri Lowell

Yuri Lowell
Tales character
Yuri as seen in Tales of Vesperia
First game	Tales of Vesperia (2008)
Designed by	Kōsuke Fujishima
Voiced by (English)	Troy Baker
Voiced by (Japanese)	Kosuke Toriumi

Yuri Lowell (ユーリ・ローウェル^?, Yuuri Rouweru) is a fictional character introduced in the 2008 role-playing game Tales of Vesperia by Namco Tales Studio. The protagonist of the story, Yuri is a young adult from the Lower Quarter of the Imperial Capital, Zaphias. He leaves the town with a noble named Estellise in order to find a thief who stole an important instrument to his people. Across the story, he is willing to help those in need, even if he has to take extreme measures to do so, adopting a vigilante-like attitude in many situations. He also forms a guild known as Brave Vesperia when aiding Estellise. Yuri and his childhood friend Flynn are also the protagonists of the anime film Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike which details their backstories as an imperial knight protecting a town alongside his comrades.

The character of Yuri was created to be a young adult to contrast previous Tales protagonists who besides being younger were developed across their games. Yuri has been designed by Kōsuke Fujishima. His role in the film The First Strike was carefully planned to explain his role in the empire, his relationship with Flynn as well as how he decides to leave them.

Yuri also been well received with many writers for video game publications finding him as an appealing protagonist that contrasted other heroes. His role in The First Strike also received positive reception. The positive response has resulted in Yuri often appearing in polls and Tales producer Hideo Baba commenting on whether they could create another character with similar traits.

Yurl Lowell was designed for Tales of Vesperia by regular series designer Kōsuke Fujishima. Compared to other characters like Flynn, Fujisaka found designing Yuri a challenge, as he was a type of protagonist that the series had not featured previously. Yuri was created to be different from previous protagonists in the series such as Kyle Dunamis from Tales of Destiny 2 and Luke fon Fabre from Tales of the Abyss. While the stories of previous games focused on revealing and developing these characters' personalities, Yuri was given a more adult personality. As such, Yuri was in a position to aid in the growth of the main cast. The game's theme of justice came partially from this portrayal. His deep friendship with Flynn also formed the core theme of Bonnie Pink's theme song "Ring a Bell".