Isara Gunther

Isara Gunther is the adoptive sister of Welkin Gunther, tank driver of the Edelweiss and a major character within Squad 7 in Valkyria Chronicles.

Appearance
Like most Darcsens, Isara has dark colored hair and eyes, pale skin and a slender frame. Isara wears her hair short, and wears her shawl at all times whether wearing her civilian clothes or Gallian militia uniform. Isara wears the skirt variety with long stockings similar to Alicia and Rosie. Around her waist she carries her toolbelt and wears a pair of matching fur trimmed brown boots and gloves.

Backstory
Isara Gunther is the biological daughter of Theimer, a fantastic Darcsen engineer who invented the Edelweiss and worked alongside his friend, Belgen Gunther to end the first Europan War.

Unfortunately Theimer died when Isara was very young, but Belgen adopted her as if she were his own daughter raising her alongside Welkin Gunther, his son. Despite not remembering much about Theimer, Isara adopted his love of engineering and could often be found tinkering with machines as she grew up. She and Welkin are very close as a result of Belgen's upbringing and Isara has always viewed both Theimer and Belgen as her fathers, commenting that she's very lucky to have two wonderful fathers.

Racism
Isara, as a Darcsen, has grown up having to deal with a lot of racist predujice directed at her. The Darcsen race, Gallia's indigenous race, were said to have caused the Darcsen Calamity, a great conflict that happened between the Darcsen race thousands of years ago. Allegedly the conflict escalated to the point that Ragnite (a very powerful energy source) weaponry were unleashed and devastated the lands killing millions of people and animals and destroying hundreds of cities, scorching the lands and creating the Barious desert.

The Darcsens were then defeated by the Valkyrie, a powerful race of warriors who took up arms against them and saved the rest of the non Darcsen people from this war. As a result many people still hold resentment to the Darcsen race, with many modern day atrocities being justified against them as a result of that conflict, including Darcsen Hunts in which Darcsens are either hunted down and killed or put in slave camps.

Despite all of this, Isara is proud of her Darcsen heritage and although she has gotten used to being treated with disdain by strangers, she still hopes for a world where people will treat Darcsens as equals, as she tells Alicia Melchiott after Bridgitte "Rosie" Stark hurls racial slurs her way.

Valkyria Chronicles
Isara is first seen in Bruhl, just after Welkin is arrested by Alicia for his suspicious behaviour. She confirms his story that she and him are siblings and that Welkin has come to help her move out of Bruhl before the Imperials invade. Unfortunately almost as soon as she finishes explaining this, gunshots are heard as Imperials move in and start gunning down evacuating civilians.

Whilst Alicia and Welkin team up to fight them back, Isara is sent to keep Martha, her and Welkin's pregnant nanny, safe and help her evacuate. When two armed Imperials raid the house she and Martha are in, Isara grabs a rifle and defends her. Welkin returns to check on Isara, knocking out one of the Imperials as he does so, and buying Isara enough time to shoot dead the other. She then takes Welkin around to the shed, where she reveals the prototype tank, the Edelweiss, and admits she has been fine tuning it regularly just in case it should ever be needed. They gather Martha into the tank, and take the Edelweiss to save Alicia who is under heavy fire from Imperial tanks. During this time Martha gives birth in the tank to her fifth son, and the group comment about how even in war life finds a way to flourish.

Their home destroyed, Isara and the others travel to the Gallian capital, Randgriz, and she, Welkin and Alicia enroll in the militia to do their part. All three are assigned to Squad 7 with Isara being ranked as a Corporal. Isara has a hard time fitting in due to her Darcsen descent, largely due to Bridgitte "Rosie" Stark who instantly distrusts her because of her race, refusing to work alongside "Some Dark Hair".

She and Welkin, who had his own critic in Largo Potter, devise a strategy to prove their worth in 'Operation Cloudburst', ending up taking the bridge back from the Imperials and winning the trust of the majority of Squad 7, although Rosie continues to stubbornly hate Isara due to her parents being killed in the crossfire of a Darcsen Hunt.

Over time through being forced to work together, Rosie begins slowly to warm up to Isara, and through the tragedies they encounter together Rosie's view on Darcsen as a whole begins to change. Isara reaches out an olive branch to both her and Largo by creating traditional Darcsen good luck dolls to give them just as they're all about to go on what seems to be a suicide mission. Whilst Largo, embarrassed about his previous behaviour, accepts the doll, Rosie, equally embarrassed about her behaviour feels she can't accept it, keeping up a pretense of disliking Isara due to her Darcsen blood.

During this same mission, it is Isara who devises a plan to prevent the whole of Squad 7 from being torn to shreds by invincible gun turrets on the open beach. She works tirelessly through the night to create a shell that Welkin can fire in order to create a smokeshield allowing the group to move safely past without being spotted. It works, and the Squad manage to take Marberry Shore. Rosie reveals she had kept Isara's doll, and they reconcile with Isara stating she's always hoped to one day listen to Rosie's beautiful singing voice. This moment is shattered when an Imperial Sniper out of nowhere shoots Isara right in front of Rosie.

Isara dies in Welkin's arms with a weak smile, apologising for not being able to fulfill Welkin's dream of flying. At her funeral, Welkin, Alicia, Largo and Rosie all salute her and Rosie tearfully fulfills Isara's wish by singing her a song.

Isara's death deeply affects the squad, with Rosie herself even requesting that Squad 7 go on a mission to prevent more Darcsen hunts from occurring. Kreiss respectfully takes over her duties even continuing to work on her plane, and Welkin and Alicia not only take Bruhl back in the name of Isara but also eventually name their daughter after her.

Trivia

 * Isara, despite being a non playable unit in her debut game, appears in Valkyria Chronicles 2, Valkyria Chronicles 3 and Valkyria Chronicles 4 as a playable soldier. She is an Armoured Technician in VC2, her preferred classes are Engineer or Armoured Technician in VC3 and she belongs to the Grenadier class in VC4.
 * With the exception of Engineer, none of Isara's possible classes are classes in Valkyria Chronicles.
 * Due to being adopted by Welkin's father, Isara is the only Darcsen in the series to have a surname.
 * Isara is implied to have been the first person to invent smoke bombs and the concept of a plane in Valkyria Chronicles' world.
 * She created her prototype plane as a way to fulfill the daydream of Welkin who often talked about how he'd love to be able to fly someday whilst bird watching.
 * Isara isn't the strongest swimmer according to the beach episode, a fact she's a little embarrassed about.
 * She appears as a Gashapon figure alongside Alicia Melchiott, Bridgitte "Rosie" Stark and Eleanor Varrot.