Matias Torres

Lore & Background

Captain Matias Torres commands the Alicorn, a colossal submarine originally designed by the Usean continent's superpowers during the Cold War as a doomsday weapon. After the continent's unification, the Alicorn was mothballed in a secret dock, its reactors cold, until Torres—a decorated but increasingly unstable officer—seized control in a quiet mutiny. He believes that only through a catastrophic nuclear event—a 'second impact'—can humanity be forced to abandon war and achieve lasting peace. Torres's philosophy is rooted in a perverse interpretation of history: he sees the atomic bombings of World War II not as tragedies but as the only events that truly ended conflict, and he aims to repeat that lesson on a global scale.

In Their Own Story

In the dark waters near Lighthouse, the Alicorn rises from the depths like a leviathan shrugging off the sea. Torres stands on the bridge, his gaunt face lit by the cold glow of a holographic projection of the space elevator. 'They will see,' he murmurs, not to his crew but to the void itself, 'that only through fire can we forge a new world.' The submarine's missile tubes iris open, and the sky turns red as the countdown begins—a digital pulse toward Armageddon. But far above, a lone fighter pilot—Trigger—descends through the clouds, a speck of defiance against the coming storm, ready to end the nightmare before the first warhead breaks the surface.

Reader's Guide

Matias Torres is a complex villain driven by a messianic delusion, a man who has convinced himself that genocide is mercy. His role in Ace Combat 7 is to provide a final, high-stakes confrontation after the main war ends, shifting the conflict from territorial squabbles to a fight for humanity's survival. As captain of the Alicorn, he commands immense firepower: nuclear-tipped cruise missiles that can level cities, a swarm of electronic-warfare drones, and the submarine's own railgun—a weapon that can strike targets in orbit. His arc culminates in the mission 'Ten Million Relief Plan,' where players must destroy the submarine before it launches a nuclear strike on the Osean capital. Torres's defining moment is his final speech, broadcast across all channels as the Alicorn burns—a calm, chilling justification of his actions as a necessary evil, delivered with the certainty of a prophet. He is a master of naval command and psychological manipulation, but his hubris blinds him to the one truth that undoes him: that humanity does not want to be saved on his terms.

Did You Know?

• Matias Torres's name is a reference to the real-world mathematician and physicist, but his character draws inspiration from Cold War naval commanders.
• The Alicorn is based on the real-life Soviet Typhoon-class submarine, scaled up to carry aircraft.
• Torres's plan to use a nuclear strike for peace mirrors the 'mutually assured destruction' doctrine, but twisted into a proactive strategy.
• His final mission's title, 'Ten Million Relief Plan,' refers to the estimated casualties he believes would end war.