Ivy Valentine first made her appearance in the Soul series in Soul Calibur. She was the daughter of the House of Valentine, a family of English nobles. However one day her father passed away, driven completely insane through obsession with alchemy, which led to the downfall of the noble house. Not long after, her mother reveled to Ivy on her deathbed that she & the Count were not her true parents. Ivy however had no interest in her real parents, but only in continuing the work her father started.

It was then that she discovered that he was researching Soul Edge and it wasn’t long until she learned of its true nature as a demonic, soul sucking blade of evil. It was then that she vowed to destroy the demonic blade to exact revenge for her father’s madness. Using a mechanical sword she would later name the ‘Ivy Blade’, she used her knowledge of alchemy and the occult to summon a creature that would breathe life into the sword, and it did with but a single touch.

With the ritual complete she set out for Soul Edge. Soon enough she would cross paths with Nightmare and she recognized him to be the creature she summoned. Deciding it was only fair to pay him back for bringing her sword to life, she chose to help Nightmare in his plan to gather up souls for a special ritual. Thus she, along with Astaroth & Lizardman, began raising hell over Europe for years. However, the longer she killed and harvested souls, the more she detested it. (And seeing Astaroth & Lizardman take joy out of this repulsed her even more.)

One day at Ostrheinsburg Castle she finally gathered the nerve to escape, but was stopped by Astaroth. When he questioned her actions, he simply laughed and told Ivy that very blade she sought for has been beside her the entire time, held by Nightmare. In addition, Soul Edge wanted her near the Azure Knight as a ‘spare host’. Fortunately Astaroth had to leave to take care of some intruders (namely Kilik, Xianghua, & Maxi), but now Ivy went back to confront Nightmare to learn the truth. However she would be stopped this time by the Fu-Ma ninja, Taki, who had come to destroy Soul Edge. As the two fought Taki told Ivy that she felt an evil aura similar to Cervantes, the previous owner of Soul Edge that she defeated years ago, coming from Ivy & her blade. It was then that Ivy learned the devastating truth, Cervantes was her true father & it was that evil blood that flowed thru her veins that strengthened her sword.

For about a month afterwards she had locked herself in a dark laboratory to do some soul searching. While Nightmare was defeated, many shards of the broken Soul Edge still remained, so she made her decision to destroy every last piece and remove it from this world. During her travels she had slain many who came in contact, innocent or not, it did not matter. Unfortunately Ivy would learn that her sword was becoming unstable. She bought a book in a nearby town to research the matter and she learned many things about Soul Edge and it’s polar opposite Soul Calibur.

One day at her mansion a cloaked man mysteriously appeared, asking Ivy if she read the book. Answering only with silence, the two engaged in battle. Because she needed more concentration than usual to control her sword, she eventually lost the battle. The man then proceeded to grab the book and set it on fire claiming it to be a ‘mistake from his past.’ He then told Ivy that if she wished to learn everything about Soul Edge, she should seek out Nightmare who has recently revived. While she hated him for what he did, she believed his words & fortunately for her the contents of the book were etched into her mind. Once again she takes off into the battlefield ready to challenge the demonic blade. Will she succeed? Play Soul Calibur 3 to find out.

"This sword, is my destiny!” - Ivy