Ice is one of the most beautiful and deadly of the natural elements. Forming crystals, shards, snow, and icicles, it can either delight with its intricate delicacy or inflict harm with its unyielding brutality. As water made solid, this frigid element has an almost innumerable variety of forms. This makes ice an excellent storytelling tool.
Ice has been a recurring motif within the fantasy world of video games. Whether it is used to show the fragility of life or the presence of a great threat, many popular gaming juggernauts include ice-covered, wintry environments to set the scene. However, it’s not just environments that are full of frost, but some of the best gaming characters too.
8 Lucy Kuo
In the world of the Infamous franchise, characters can become conduits for all sorts of elemental abilities. For Lucy Kuo, her abilities as a conduit for ice were activated by force. Originally an NSA agent, she was abducted and experimented on by the fanatical Joseph Bertrand III.
Lucy’s conduit abilities allow her to manipulate ice and cold air. She is able to freeze nearby enemies with an icy cloud, throw balls of ice at her enemies, or even create large spikes of ice that throw enemies into the air.
7 Jin Kisaragi
The BlazBlue fighting game franchise also features a powerfully icy character in the form of Jin Kisaragi. Not only does Jin have impressive ice weapons and powers, but his personality reflects this cold talent too. Aloof, unsentimental, and with no qualms about killing anyone in his way, Jin represents the crueler side of the element of ice.
Jin wields his weapon, Ice Sword: Yukianesa, with all of the grace and skill learned during his formal military training. He also has the power to encase his opponents in ice which temporarily incapacitates them.
6 Kula Diamond
Another character with impressive cryokinesis abilities is Kula Diamond, who also goes by the name Ice Doll. Kula is a recurring character within the King of Fighters franchise who was originally created as a weapon by the NESTS cartel. Like many of the icy characters in this list, she stands out with her recognizable blue hair.
Kula has an impressive array of frosty abilities, including being able to create ice out of thin air, freeze her opponents, and shoot snowflake-shaped projectiles. Her abilities are so powerful that she can freeze whole stages in the game, dealing damage to everyone but herself.
5 Ice Man
Ice Man is a cool Robot Master from the Mega Man series of games who can withstand some extreme environmental conditions. As a creation of Dr. Light, Ice Man is impervious to sub-zero temperatures and can still function in hot environments too.
His special weapon is the Ice Slasher, which is an arrowhead-shaped blade of ice that launches from Ice Man’s mouth. This icy projectile freezes anything in its path due to its frigid temperature of 200 degrees below zero.
4 Shiva
In the Final Fantasy franchise, Shiva is one of many recurring summonable creatures within the games. Though her design changes many times throughout the series, her core representation is that of a blue-skinned woman with icily pale hair and often not a whole lot of clothing.
Shiva is also known by the titles of Lady of Frost and the Ice Goddess. Her Icy Stare move deals ice-elemental damage to a targeted enemy while her Diamond Dust move inflicts ice-elemental damage to all enemies.
3 Celsius
The Tales fantasy-RPG franchise features several versions of the character Celsius, a young woman who represents the divine force of ice. As a Spirit, referred to as a Craymel or Sacred Beast in some adaptations, Celsius can be summoned using magic and is often seen accompanied by her wolf, Fenrir.
Celsius is often found in icy and snowy surroundings and is often depicted as pale or blue-skinned. She is able to cast a variety of ice-elemental spells such as Ice Needles, Ice Tornado, and Icicle Fall. Her spells take the form of icy projectiles that can be hurled at the enemy or used to impede their movement.
2 Lissandra
Known variably as The Ice Witch, Keeper of Dreams, and Lady of Ice and Darkness, Lissandra is a powerful figure within the extensive League of Legends world. Her bargain with the extra-dimensional Watchers led to the creation of the iceborn, a magical alteration that allowed individuals to resist the cold and manipulate ice. As one of the original iceborns herself, Lissandra's powers are formidable.
Though she is capable of wielding True Ice, Lissandra’s signature magic is manipulating Dark Ice – a corrupted and more potent form of the frigid mineral. Her connection to and control over Dark Ice is so powerful that Lissandra can reform herself wherever Dark Ice spreads. Capable of freezing her enemies and conjuring ice in any form, Lissandra’s powers are truly chilling.
1 Sub-Zero
Kuai Liang, or Sub-Zero as he’s more recognizably known, is the Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei assassin clan in the ever-popular Mortal Kombat franchise. Though he’s the second person to don the Sub-Zero identity, he has remained known by this alias since the earliest Mortal Kombat games in the 90s. Like many ice-wielding characters, Kuai Liang is stern, disciplined, and cool in demeanor.
As Sub-Zero is descended from the exiled race of Cryomancers, he has the ability to control ice and even air temperature in many forms. His core move is freezing his opponents so that their body turns into brittle ice. Sub-Zero can also construct ice formations in the shape of weapons, obstacles, and even a statue of himself.