Kurt Irving

Kurt Irving (クルト･アーヴィング) is a character from Valkyria Chronicles III, appearing in the game as the main protagonist.

Profile
The captain of the Gallian penal military unit "Nameless." Very serious and excels at everything, but can also be inflexible, and tends to keep his distance from others. Although he had trouble getting along with the other members of Nameless to start with, his excellent strategies and effective commands started to bring the unit together, and pulling off bold and risky missions earned him the trust of those beneath him. Eventually he was even able to support Riela and Imca, who had been isolated within the unit and a bond started to form between them. His hobby is mixing spices, and he is very particular about his curries. He has a habit of chewing gum to calm himself down or overcome irritation.

Valkyria Chronicles III
Kurt was a top graduate from the Lanseal Royal Military Academy not long before the Imperial incursion into Gallia that occurred in 1935. During the early portion of the invasion, Kurt had command over an Army squad, performing well on the battlefield and reporting directly to Major General Carl Isler. For no reason clear to him, however, Kurt is informed that he has been accused of treason. With the only other option as facing his own execution, Kurt is transferred to serve as the new commander of Squad 422, whose previous leader had been killed in a recent skirmish. While initially garnering little respect from most of his new subordinates, over the following months his leadership skills serve to unite the Nameless into a more cohesive, tight-knit fighting force. Against standard Imperial units the squad quickly gains a string of victories, but is consistently surprised or outmaneuvered by the special forces squad Calamity Raven. Kurt's face-to-face meeting with their leader, Dahau, inspires something of a rivalry within him, to the point where defeating Calamity Raven is not only for the sake of protecting his friends, but also a challenge in besting Dahau's strategies.

As the war passes following Gusurg's betrayal and the Nameless's execution, Kurt maintains his unparalleled leadership to continue fighting the Empire, despite followed pursuit by his Gallian peers. In time, Kurt led the Nameless through many triumphs in managing to best against Dahau and Gusurg, saving his previous squad mates from the repeat of another tragedy at the drawbridge, and participating at the battle at Narssia desert. All the victories recorded prevailed after the Nameless' return to Randgriz and Isler's court-martial, where it cleared Kurt's innocence, exonerating all charges against his squad, and a full return position to the Gallian Regular Army.

However the peace earned did not last long following the war's end. Discovering an ancient Valkyrur ballistic weapon inside Imperial territory from the clean-up after Isler's arrest, Kurt wasted no doubt that Dahau will intend to use the weapon understanding his personality and ambitions, but having to means in returning to the Nameless and discarding his nationality to once again enter enemy grounds. Depending of the player's choice of girl for Kurt, he first consults with her replying with a romantic 'yes', and the rest of the Nameless squad nominates to follow Kurt in their final and dangerous mission of no return.

In his spare time, Kurt has a hobby of collecting and mixing spices and herbs, a skill he developed in order to make eating army rations more bearable. Not one to rely on brief inspiration, Kurt is a man who thoroughly thinks out his every decision. While this behavior easily lends itself to command abilities on the battlefield, at other times Kurt has been shown to greatly over-think what would commonly be simple choices. For instance, he once spent an entire night attempting to create the perfect spice to go with the curry that the squad was to eat, forcing the rest of the Nameless to improvise while he went without food or sleep re-testing mixtures. When frustrated or irritated, Kurt has developed a habit of chewing on a piece of hard candy in order to clear his thoughts, and he almost always keeps a small jar of them on his person. Of the candies themselves, they are most commonly a brand made by the Evans Company called "Susie's Drops."

Expanded Biography
Kurt was born in Randgriz City, Gallia's capital city. His family runs a general store where they sell lots of different things for little profit. As a result of his upbrining, Kurt grew to believe that nothing in the world is worthless or pointless. He learned to make effective use of what he has on hand and, as such, doesn't like things that are luxurious or gratuitous. This personal philosophy served him well as a military commander. Kurt enrolled in Lanseal Royal Military Academy with a full scholarship because he felt that would place the least amount of burden on his parents, while still allowing him the possibility of an upward career trajectory in the future. He is not particularly prone to violence, but he does believe it is a soldier's duty to protect their homeland.

Kurt has higher aspirations than most, and became a top student by studying and training judiciously. To better illustrate the kind of person Kurt is, let's say a prodigy can memorize the multiplication table up to 9x9 in ten seconds, and a genius can memorize the same in three days. In this case, Kurt is the guy who would try to memorize the multiplication table up to 99x99 in three days, and mostly succeed. Even when he scores 98% on a test, he will take the time to give serious thought as to why he didn't get the remaining 2%. As a result, he was both respected and decorated in both regular school and the military academy. This created a rift between Kurt and his fellow students, a rift that was only widened by the fact that Kurt showed little to no interest in others. The only thing Kurt ever worries about is how to better himself, but even when he succeeds at that, he does not feel the least bit satisfied.

Kurt graduated from Lanseal Royal Military Academy not only at the top of his class, but with the highest grades ever recorded in the academy's long history. Once out in the field as an officer in the Gallian Army, Kurt was assigned to areas like Central Gallia and the Vasel area, where he achieved victories for Gallia in battles that most considered to be impossible situations. His valor and obvious talent caught the eye of Major General Isler, and Kurt seemed to be on a direct path to a successful military career as an elite officer. This path came to an abrupt end, however, when Kurt happened to pick up a letter that was part of secret communications Isler was having with the Empire. Kurt didn't look at the contents of the letter and simply delivered it to Isler, whose name was on the envelope, but Isler nonetheless suspected Kurt of reading the letter. In order to cover his tracks, Isler framed Kurt for treason and had him sent to the penal military unit Nameless. This huge misfortune and obvious injustice did little to sway Kurt's hardworking nature, however. Taking a leadership position during battles in the most difficult war zones and rallying a rather motley crew of soldiers under his lead, Kurt once again managed to achieve a string of victories for Gallia. Through his experiences with the Nameless, Kurt learned the difficulties and joys of interacting with others. Two particular individuals of note were Riela, who seemed to have an extreme and sometimes illogical faith in Kurt, and Imca, who tended to distance herself from others even more than Kurt did. By deepening his relationships with these two women, Kurt felt the joy of trusting and being trusted for the first time in his life.

Once all of the fighting was over, Nameless was disbanded and Kurt retired from the military world to live out the rest of his life with the one person who was more important to him than any amount of military could ever be. All records of the shadow squad led by Kurt were stricken from the annals of history, and their chronicles lived only in the memories of a scarce few. During his free time, Kurt is usually found cooking or gathering wild herbs. He has spent countless hours mixing his own unique herb blends, but he yet to discover the perfect blend.

Crossover Appearances
Project X Zone 3: War of Infinite Worlds

Kurt appears as a Pair Unit teaming up with Riela Marcellis.

Project X Zone 3: Sacred Destinies

Kurt appears as a Pair Unit teaming up with Riela Marcellis.

Project X Zone 4: Fate at Hands

Kurt appears as a Pair Unit teaming up with Imca.

Project X Zone: Fight For The Future 20XX

He is one of the characters from Sega side.

DC vs. Sega: Chaotic Justice

He is one of the characters from Sega side.

Heroes Infinity

Kurt is one of the characters from Sega side.

Trivia

 * Kurt's Nameless number (No. 7) is without a doubt a reference for Squad 7 and Class G (G is the 7th letter in the alphabetical order) respectively.
 * Kurt's grounds for Namelessness was treason (although he was falsely accused).
 * Kurt is often shown to have a gunner's weapon, even though gunner is not his preferred class.
 * Following the protagonist squad leaders Welkin and Avan, Kurt shares a personality trait that involves communication with girls at the beginning of his storyline.
 * Kurt, Imca, and Riela are playable characters in Project X Zone, a Sega, Namco and Capcom character crossover strategy game.
 * Kurt's clothing appears in Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Extend another game by Sega as an alternate costume for Len Kagamine.
 * Yuichi Nakamura (Kurt's VA) and Aya Endo (Riela's VA) both voiced Alto and Sheryl Nome (the main characters for the anime Macross Frontier) with May'n as the official singer for Sheryl Nome (as well as singer for the second opening and endings of the anime).