Klaus Midgar

"Our nation needs time to make preparation as well. The darkness that has been lurking behind the curtains of history since ancient times was growing ever more dense. We dared not tread into their realm to confront them unprepared."

- Klaus

Klaus Midgar (クラウス ・ミドガル) is the king of Midgar Kingdom as well as the father of Iris and Alexia. Criticized for his inaction, he is actually fully aware of the existence of the Cult of Diablos and quietly fights their influence.

Appearance
The king has rarely been seen within the series, but what glimpses seen of him show he is a red-haired, mustached man in cleanly dressed attire for a king presently ruling his nation. His appearance makes him look more like Iris than Alexia with matching red hair.

Personality
"Acting impetuously will create too many enemies. Even if your deeds are just, we cannot assume those who are unaware of the circumstance will understand them as being so."

- Klaus to Iris

Klaus is a cautious ruler who wants to neutralize with any troubles as he adopted "the principle of avoiding things", which he doesn't make any moves if the problems don't affect too much on his kingdom. Because of his policy, Klaus is not highly regarded as a king by both of his daughters, seeing him as too inactive for their sense of initiative. However, he is also a man of honor, taking great care to respectfully deliver the body of King Raphael Oriana to his homeland, but through the Marquess Grant of the anti-Duke faction opposing Perv Asshat.

Background
King Klaus served as a monarch of the Midgar Kingdom who later married and sired two children, Iris and Alexia. Klaus established an friendship with Raphael Oriana as they forged an alliance between both of their nations. At some point, Klaus notice the Cult of Diablos existence and secretly fought their influence carefully because he understood the organization's history and their power which had been influential throughout the world.

Klaus's Secret Political Maneuver
After his daughter Alexia Midgar is rescued from being kidnapped, Klaus learned that the Zenon Griffey is the one responsible for his daughter kidnapping which exposing the Cult of Diablos existence to the public, along with the reveal of Shadow Garden which is a mysterious organization that openly opposes the Cult. Klaus then decides to take advantage of their attack to legally investigate their base to alleviate public concern.

But, Klaus have to marked Shadow Garden as a renegade armed group and are wanted by the Kingdom after the terrorist incident in the Midgar Academy, so that his kingdom would not become a Cult's target while he was strategizing his next step.

As the events of the "Goddess's Trial" in Lindwurm were about to begin, Klaus intended to send his youngest daughter, Alexia to attend the event as a VIP guest and also investigate the dark rumors of the archbishop Drake regarding the corruption and missing orphans, as well as the relation with the Holy Church alongside the Crimson Order.

Bushin Festival Tournament
After the incident at Lindwurm, Klaus was approach by his daughter, Iris Midgar, as she wanted to use the kingdom's authority to investigate the Holy Church. Even after hearing reports of suspicions of collusion between the the Holy Church and the Cult of Diablos, Klaus did not try to deal with it on the pretext that it was not a certainty with the facts at present and had no crucial evidence to justify a long term investigation.

Furthermore with the approaching of Bushin Festival event along with many honored guests from abroad to whom he must presently play host, Klaus think that this is certainly not a time where he can afford to present himself being antagonistic toward the Church for causing any undue turmoil. Also, Klaus wants to avoid upsetting his allies in Oriana and receiving a visit from their king. Iris is determined to get results and prove that she has power to stand up against the Divine Teachings, which Klaus often finds it tiresome to remind Iris of his words and also holds high expectations of her.

Klaus going to the arena stadium to attend at the final tournament and meet King Raphael Oriana along with his Royal Chancellor, Duke Perv Asshat. Both rulers then watch the match between Iris and Mundane Mann until when Klaus saw his daughter defeat, he just sighed in disappointment and immediately left the stadium after her loss at the hands of Mundane.

Not long after leaving the VIP seating, Klaus is informed from his civil servant that King Raphael Oriana had been killed by his own daughter, Rose Oriana and escape with the help from Mundane after he reveals his true appearance as Shadow which he currently doing engaged in battle against Beatrix that may go even outside of the stadium. Hearing this, Klaus suppose that he must consider invoking martial law.

Klaus asks about Perv and Raphael's body which he gets informed that Perv heading towards the outskirts on a carriage and is likely directly running back to Oriana Kingdom without stopping at the embassy, also the knight are securing Oriana's king body. King Klaus tells them to taking good care of his body and returning it to Oriana through Marquess Grant, who is the leader of the anti-chancellor faction.

When the civil servant think that the King action will be giving an low-key political move for helping the anti-Duke faction in Oriana to gain public support, Klaus explains that their nation needs time to make preparation to prepare themselves as the darkness that has been lurking since ancient times has taken a deeper hue and the Kingdom will be swallowed up in darkness if they unpreparedly decide to enter.

Powers & Abilities
While seemingly not having demonstrated combat ability, being the ruler of the Midgar Kingdom, Klaus has great political power over the nation's internal affairs. Granted that he is aware of the Cult but takes strides to legitimately and inconspicuously challenge their stranglehold on the world, Klaus can also be seen as a capable tactician.

Iris Midgar
Klaus's relationship with his eldest daughter has shown to be stern and strict, focusing on trying to teach her restraint and discipline but often failing with her. Unlike the rest of Midgar, who overly praised Iris's skills, Klaus was very critical towards his daughter's shortcomings, especially her fiery temperament. He tried to teach Iris to play smart, but this was shown to have failed as she would rather overclock her magic and brute force her way through a problem.

In the anime, upon seeing Iris's defeat at the hands of Mundane Mann, he just sighed in disappointment and left the stadium, implying that he has an idea what caused Iris to fail.

Alexia Midgar
Klaus's relationship with his second daughter has yet to be properly explored, but it can be inferred to not be as strained as with Iris. While Iris brushes her shortcoming and maintains her hotheaded behavior, Alexia is more coolheaded, humbled, and forward-thinking in her actions and consequences for the most part. Klaus did order Alexia to investigate the Church about the Archbishop Drake's dark rumors before his assassination, but would have likely cancelled any further investigations had Alexia returned from Lindwurm, especially since it is a three day train ride to Lindwurm.

Raphael Oriana
The two kings have had a long history of friendship together, holding a truce between their nations for Midgar to protect Oriana in the event of any external conflict. It is most probable that King Klaus observed the long-term brainwashing of his old friend by Perv Asshat, that when he was killed by his daughter, Rose, King Klaus ensured King Raphael's body was protected and returned safely, but through the anti-Duke faction. Even in death, Klaus knew Raphael would have wanted to support the opposition to Perv Asshat.

Grant
King Klaus knew Marquess Grant long and well enough to entrust him with the safe return of King Raphael's body. This was also a low-key political move to help the anti-Duke faction in Oriana gain public support. By these actions, Klaus most likely trusts Marquess Grant, almost as much as his friendship of King Raphael.

Perv Asshat
While not blatant or emphatic about his feelings, King Klaus likely uncovered Duke Asshat's brainwashing of his old friend, King Raphael, and possibly held a grudge or hatred for the Duke. To subtly and legally oppose Duke Asshat, King Klaus sent Raphael's body to Marquess Grant in a power move to fuel support for the anti-Duke faction.

Cult of Diablos
In fact, Klaus already knows about the Cult of Diablos and understands the organization's strength, knowingly hiding the organization's existence from both of his daughters in order to protect them and the country from the ancient cabal. It is a consideration as a father who does not want his daughters involved with the Cult, whether in opposition to them or as a pawn.

With the Cult's exposure by Shadow Garden, Klaus has maintained a vigilance over Iris and her Crimson Order, likely aware of the Cult's targeting the newly formed order. When Iris was defeated at the Bushin Festival, Klaus looked initially disappointed and sighed in relief before taking his leave, likely removing any openings to assassinate himself.

Trivia

 * Klaus and Iris share matching crimson hair. It is unclear if his wife, the queen, shares matching silver hair with Alexia.
 * King Klaus, while a "named character" by Cid's standards, properly operates covertly in opposition to the Cult's machinations.
 * Contact between Shadow Garden and Klaus has yet to occur, but both are operating against the Cult of Diablos. While Shadow Garden does so ostentatiously, King Klaus uses their boisterous distractions as opportunities to politically oppose the Cult's influencers. For example:
 * Shadow's "I Am Atomic" drew the public attention to the Fenrir Sect's base, exposing the Cult and allowing Klaus to legally investigate their base to alleviate public concern.
 * Sending his youngest daughter, Alexia Midgar to investigate the archbishop Drake's dark rumors about corruption and missing orphans, also the relation on the Holy Church.
 * Shadow's crashing the Bushin Festival allowed Klaus returning Raphael's body to Oriana Kingdom through the anti-Duke faction.