You can't say "no" to that face.

There's no question that Soul Calibur has always catered heavily toward its fans in terms of aesthetic preferences -- to the extreme.  This is probably why IV spawned yet another slew of before-and-after articles on gaming websites, mostly analyzing the progression of breast size and reduction of clothing on female characters.  How can the fanboys resist when Ivy's breasts have each grown to the size of Alaska?  Even the modest girls have enough jiggle to make physicists commit suicide at seeing a lifetime of research tossed out the window.

It seems only fair for us to pay the same amount of attention to the men, or at least a man.  In light of Soul Calibur IV's summer debut, we'll look at Siegfried Schtauffen, who's been with the Soul universe since the dawn of time.  Well, since Soul Edge anyway.  Patricide, self-loathing, and a bed of beautiful blond hair makes this one emo knight in shining armor.  Ladies can put their heart at ease knowing that he's never killed a girlfriend (that we know of), and the games contain no clear implications between Siegfried and any of the female fighters.

Let's begin with Soul Edge, the arcade game that marked the beginning of a long and successful line of 3D fighters.  Siegfried is still young and looks appropriate for his age, though not much else can be said.

It was the 90's.

As a teenager, Siegfried accidently murdered his own father while leading his band of thieves around the countryside on a rampage.  Denial proves to be an effective defense mechanism when he somehow convinces himself that he wasn't the culprit.  Thus begins his pursuit of the legendary Soul Edge, a powerful weapon that can bring his father's killer to justice.

Anyone who follows the Soul series know how well that works out.  Siegfried finds Soul Edge and becomes its wielder after defeating Cervantes de Leon.  The sword speaks to him, telling him that it has the power to resurrect daddy-dearest, and convinces Siegfried to help it restore itself to its former glory.  Our blond knight is soon oversome by Soul Edge's influence, becoming the Azure Knight and the sword's puppet.  Now he is Nightmare:

He was such a looker...

What happened?!

Badass points, maybe, but I was pretty unhappy when I had to settle for this:

Luckily, after Raphael Sorel, also known as Soul Calibur's stud #2, got his hands on the cursed sword by defeating Nightmare, Siegfried manages to break free.  From then on, Nightmare and Siegfried became two seperate people and playable characters in the following Soul Calibur games. 

Now wielding the beautiful spirit sword Soul Calibur, Siegfried was on another personal mission.  He decided the Soul Edge was too dangeous to exist.  In order to atone for his sins as a young man (finally accepted the truth of his father's death) and as the Azure Knight.  A clean slate requires a new look, of course, at which point we get a Siegfried who was hit by the sexy train.

From III's opening movie.

My, what a big sword you have.

Following the events of Soul Calibur III, Siegfried continues his self-destructive quest to destroy Soul Edge.  I won't mention any endings involving him in IV, since a few of you probably haven't played through yet, but Siegfried looks amazing, especially against some of the more questionable alterations to other characters.

Lick it, you know you want to.

Sometime between III and IV, Soul Calibur merged with Siegfried and formed that second crystalline layer over his existing armor.  It's a lovely effect, and you can just barely see the metal underneath a glassy filter.  None of his starting costumes show any skin even when you destroy his equipment, but it is possible if you go into Character Creation and tweak him to your liking.  Really comes down to how many layers he has on.

He's a bit of a loner, but that's all part of the package.