Bruno

Bruno (Japanese: Bruno), also known as the Mysterious Man, ???, and Zacharias, is a character that appears in.

Role
Bruno appears throughout Heroes acting in an antagonistic manner, acting condescending when telling Alfonse that he will not close the gates to the other realms.

Before the Game
As blood royalty of the Emblian Empire, he is bound by a curse compelling him to fight against the Askran Kingdom. Bruno seeks to be freed from this curse by any means necessary. After his mother was imprisoned for sharing imperial secrets with Askr and later died in captivity, he was cast to the border. He entered Askr and assumed the identity of Zacharias, joining the Order of Heroes and befriending Alfonse and Sharena, but when the curse's effects started to take hold of him again, he seemingly vanished in the World of Awakening during a mission.

Book I
During Chapter 9: Heroes Invade Bruno tells Alfonse and Sharena that Veronica is not after the capital of Askr, but instead after their summoning ruins. If Veronica were to destroy them, Heroes would no longer be able to be summoned. He runs off after this and does not tell the Order of Heroes why he has chosen to disclose this information. Later, after Alfonse thanks him for the warning and the conversation turns to Zacharias, Bruno simply tells Alfonse that the Order will never see Zacharias again but refuses to further elaborate on the manner.

In Xenologue 1: Detached Princess, Bruno asks Veronica whether she feels as if someone is controlling her actions, to which she replies that sometimes the word "kill" pops up in her head, and then she wants to kill; this is the first in-game hint of the Emblian royal curse.

In Paralogue 3: Blazing Shadows, Bruno is reading through the tome of Bramimond, reading that the Emblian royalty (not specifically stated as such at the time) has the blood of a wicked god, which uses the royalty as puppets, as they could not fight the god's influence; the text states the god is known by many names: "Devourer of Royals", "Ruin Borne upon Wings", "the Original Demon", and that its true name has never been written until now, but the name is not there, to Bruno's frustration. He wants information from some Elibeans, as Elibe is the home of the Dragon's Gate, a portal to other worlds. He says that he must also find information on something of his, but it is left unsaid what this is. Before leaving, he writes a letter addressed to Alfonse and signs it as Zacharias, implying that Zacharias was investigating the Emblian royalty and stating that he, not Veronica, is the true enemy, the first time he hints toward the royal curse to the friends who knew him as Zacharias.

Paralogue 5: World of Shadows sees Bruno calling Veronica back to the castle after her mission in that world had failed, then warns the Order of Heroes that he won't hesitate to kill them if they get in his way; he then appears to suffer from the effects of the royal curse and then begs the Askran royals to leave.

In Chapter 10: World of Radiance, Bruno finally reveals his identity as Prince of Embla. Later on in the chapter, he appears to the Summoner as Zacharias to aid the Summoner in escaping the World of Radiance, and also tells the Summoner to watch out for the friends who knew him as Zacharias; although unseen by the player in this instance, this is the only time in the game to date that he has actually appeared primarily as Zacharias.

In Chapter 11: Rite of Shadows, Bruno appears in the final part and is acting differently to how he has previously. Rather than trying to warn the Order of Heroes to leave, he instead threatens to kill Alfonse. Furthermore, when they attempt to perform the rite in order to communicate with Zacharias, Bruno tells them that they are wasting their breath, and in an attempt to prevent the Order from figuring out his secret, states that he killed Zacharias when he got involved with issues that he shouldn't have.

Chapter 12: Bitter Enemies sees Bruno challenging the Order to take him down before he takes them down; in trying to protect his secret, he states that Zacharias needs to be avenged. Later on, when the Order confronts him about Zacharias, he shows his lance from his days in the Order and made up an order of events of Zacharias's last moments; upon being defeated, Bruno begs for death and reiterates his cover story of being Zacharias's killer, only for the Order to actually figure out that Bruno was indeed Zacharias.

Chapter 13: Diabolical Bloodline begins with Bruno not only confirming the Order figuring out that he was indeed Zacharias, but also reveals his backstory, and later on reveals that the effects of the royal curse once caused him to attempt to kill Alfonse while he was still with the Order as well as stating that he has tried to kill himself in order to escape the curse. As he vowed to continue his search to break the curse, asks the Summoner to look after the friends who knew him as Zacharias, and requests that he be killed if he ever makes another attempt on Alfonse or Sharena.

While he doesn't physically appear in the Intermission, it is stated that he, as Zacharias, urged Anna to investigate a set of ruins where the power to awaken the potential of Sacred Seals rests.

Book II
Bruno's plays a minor role in Book II.

In Chapter 11: Prince of Ice, it is revealed that he, using his Zacharias identity, managed to meet up with Hríd, the prince of Nifl, and supplied him with information and an old map of Múspell in hopes of leading the Order of Heroes to the Rite of Flames. Zacharias stated that the trail to Burnt-Bone Gorge is one the Múspell army doesn't know about; however, an ambush there calls the veracity of the information Zacharias supplied to Hríd into question; unaware of the Emblian curse and the possiblity of interference by the Bruno identity, Hríd deduces that there may potentially be a traitor amongst the Order of Heroes supplying information to Múspell that led to the ambush.

Bruno then physically appears at Surtr's castle, during Princess Laevatein, as he rescues his sister and Ylgr from Laevatein. He reveals that he has been taken care of Xander after his injury from Surtr, and that he has been thinking of Alfonse saving him long ago.

Book III
Bruno has yet to appear in Book III.

Trivia

 * It is mentioned that Zacharias uses s, whereas Bruno uses s.
 * In a conversation between him and Alfonse, in Princess Laevatein, they said they would talk once Surtr was defeated, but they haven't yet.
 * In Japanese, this name is ザカリア (Zachariah, romanized as Zakaria).