History Characters / SwordArtOnlineAntagonists

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/WataruTakagi (Japanese), Creator/FrankTodaro (English)

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkiraIshida (Japanese), Creator/RieKugimiya (Japanese, young), Ted Sroka (English, ''Alicization''), Creator/GregChun (English, ''War of Underworld''), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English, young)

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Despite his status as the strongest being there, [[TheSocialDarwinist which dictates that they follow him unquestionably]], none of the Dark Territory members seem to actually like him or are genuinely loyal to him. [[spoiler:Shasta and Lipia die trying to kill him, Fu Za stopped Shasta out of a personal grude as opposed to loyalty]], [[TheStarscream Dee Eye Ell has plans to usurp his authority]], Kosogi thinks he's being manipulated by Dee Eye Ell and uses LoopholeAbuse in regards to his orders, Lilpilin is angered when he orders [[spoiler: 3,000 of his people dead for a spell]], and Iskahn is disgusted by his WeHaveReserves mentality enough to [[spoiler: betray him himself]] and even before that he was [[spoiler: rooting for Shasta when he made an attempt on his life.]]

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineYuukiKonno Yuuki Konno]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineEugeo Eugeo]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella Quinella]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineEugeo Eugeo]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella Quinella]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

-> See the Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin.

-> See the Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou.

-> See [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella the page here]].

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineEugeo Eugeo]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella Quinella]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineQuinella Quinella]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineNobuyukiSugou Nobuyuki Sugou]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

!!Quinella
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MaayaSakamoto (Japanese), Creator/MaureenPrice (English)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quinella_0.png]]
--> "''To love is to control. I love everything. I rule everything.''"

The Administrator of Underworld and high minister of Axiom Church. She is responsible for corrupting the government from behind the scenes, disposing of those who oppose her. The antagonist of volumes 9-14.

* AccidentalMurder: Her implementation of the Taboo Index has caused incidents like this. One such example is when Rath caused a plague in the Underworld in hopes of forcing the people to break the laws so they can try to minimize possible deaths. However, the people's absolute adherence to the Index and it's rules against killing and stealing led [[SuicidalPacifism to them not doing anything about it]], leading to devastating casualties that could have been avoided.
* AccidentalTruth: When she gave Scheta the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Black Lily Sword]], she encouraged her to cling to her murderous impulses and obsession with cutting, claiming that she'll find a way to break out of it as a result. Knowing Quinella, [[ManipulativeBastard this is definitely an attempt at manipulating her into being an effective attack dog]], [[spoiler: But Scheta ''does'' end up finding a way out of her obsession, since it leads to her taking part in the War of Underworld and meeting Iskahn, who she falls in love with when he proves capable of resisting her slashes and soon realizes that in spite of her obsession, she doesn't ''want'' to kill or cut him.]]
* ActorAllusion: This wouldn't be the first time Creator/MaayaSakamoto [[Franchise/DotHack voiced a video game AI that had seemingly infinite powers (and even resided in a cathedral)]] However, unlike Quinella, Aura shows herself to be a BenevolentAI who cares for the well-being of the players playing the game.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Her hair and eyes were described in the novels as [[WhiteHairBlackHeart silver with a platinum-like sheen]]. In all animated and illustrated media ever since, it's purple, with no noticeable luster.
* AdaptationalModesty: In the game, she wears her dress for the entire final battle ''intact'' against Kirito, instead of going into her FullFrontalAssault territory that she's better known for.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Downplayed. While her crimes are mostly the same in the anime adaptation, there are a few more scenes added in that make her overall more sympathetic. For one, [[spoiler:her spirit lingers after her death and being proud of the empire that she created. Then after Bercouli's death, her spirit appears before him, showing awareness of her vileness and even some regret over her actions, while both are happy to reunite and are TogetherInDeath.]]
** Gets this treatment in the [[AlternateTimeline Cake Timeline]]. While she still gives off the impression of a {{Sociopath}}ic tyrant with the GodComplex who effectively sees her subjects as objects she can use and abuse as she pleases, there are moments where she's merciful and even warm, something Kirito and Eugeo pick up in her interactions with her riding dragon, and she appears more willing to actually negotiate with Cardinal than kill her outright after being convinced by the two new Integrity Knights. This actually appears to be a plot-point, as Charlotte feels compelled to report this behavior to Cardinal.
* TheAgeless: [[spoiler:Her original effort to take over the Cardinal system of UW resulted in her fusing with it, granting her eternal youth [[TheNeedless and the removal of the need to eat and drink]]. However, she wasn't satisfied with just that]].
* AllClothUnravels: It takes only a tug of a knot on her nightgown to strip completely naked in front of Eugeo. Knowing [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl her]], this could be intentional.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Her right arm was severed when Eugeo (in sword form) clashed with Quinella's blade. She subsequently transmutes said arm into another sword to kill Kirito with. And even that other arm is lopped off in battle later on when the two stab each other in such a way Quinella is also able to take one of Kirito's arms in exchange.]] [[SubvertedTrope Subverted in ''Lycoris'', where she and Kirito both apparently end the duel with all of their arms intact.]]

** To Cardinal. Being her antithesis, Cardinal exists for the sole reason of ending Quinella. The two have spent centuries battling and attempting to thwart one another. Quinella wanting nothing more than to hunt Cardinal down and kill her, while Cardinal wants to put an end to Quinella's reign and reclaim Administrator powers. [[spoiler:Quinella has utter glee when she finally gets the chance to kill Cardinal and makes sure to enjoy every second of it.]]
** To Kirito, with both eventually coming to see each other as this. Kirito discovers that Quinella is the one responsible for everything bad that happened to him in the Underworld, and dedicates his efforts to bringing her down, while ensuring that others who were once fiercely loyal to the Pontifex see her for the vile being she is. This becomes especially the case when Quinella [[spoiler:kills Eugeo]], earning her a place among Kirito's most hated enemies of all time. While Quinella originally saw Kirito as nothing but an insignificant bug who dared to defy her and waiting to be crushed, she attains special hatred for him when she finds out he's ''special'', being from the ''other side'' of the outside world. Kirito giving Quinella a reality check in reminding her there are true gods on the outside infuriates her, and her hatred for Kirito only grows when he continues to resist her, being the last one standing. Worth noting is, even among the others who resisted her, Quinella at least is able to show [[FauxAffablyEvil a twisted form of affection]] such as to Alice, Eugeo, and even Cardinal, whereas she never once gives this treatment to Kirito and derogatorily refers to him as "boy".
** To Eugeo. While his hatred was initially aimed towards the Axiom Church itself, later it gets centered on Quinella since she is the one responsible for everything. It becomes very personal after she subjects Eugeo to MindRape and make him susceptible to Synthesis, before later when he breaks free revealing she put [[ColdBloodedTorture forced Synthesis on Alice]]. Eugeo later decides that it is his purpose to bring Quinella down [[spoiler:due to wishing to atone for his actions and [[HeroicSacrifice gives up his life]] to ensure it happens.]]
** To Alice. While originally Alice was fiercely loyal to the Pontifex and the Axiom Church, Kirito's influence began to cast more and more doubt upon her, and she uncovered more about the truth on Quinella's corruption. It reached the point where Alice openly abandoned her duties as an Integrity Knight and chose to oppose her former master. While her hatred for Quinella isn't quite as intense as Kirito and Eugeo's due to her conflicting loyalty, she still very much despises the Pontifex. Though this sentiment isn't quite as much shared on Quinella's side who views Alice's rebelling as an inconvenience and still sees her as an adequate doll that can be reprogrammed to do her bidding.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Her personality aside, there's something to be said for her skills. [[spoiler:She was the first UW resident to figure out how to create offensive skills, restore her life, overturn the Cardinal System, copy her Fluctlight onto others, and forcibly alter the Fluctlights of others into her personal Servants... all because she spent a large amount of time just analyzing how the Sacred Arts of the Underworld worked.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: The plot of ''Alicization Lycoris'' is set in motion by Kirito's decision to use the Night Sky Sword to kill Quinella ending up [[GoneHorriblyWrong backfiring]] hard on him and the others. It allowed Quinella to take advantage of the sword's ability to absorb resources from the Gigas Cedar Tree to turn herself into a gigantic tree and plant seeds to bring back monsters and beings with Fluctlights BackFromTheDead, connecting her own will with the Main Visualizer to make the entire thing happen.]]
* BadBoss: It's repeatedly shown that she views the Senators and Integrity Knights as more like tools than people.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: She is shown to enjoy killing animals in her childhood to level herself up.
* BarrierChangeBoss: As a boss in ''Rising Steel'', she makes use of barrier moves in each fight that nullifies damage from either physical attacks in her first and magic attacks in the second. As the FinalBoss, she alternates between the two.
* BathingBeauty: Her Full Limit Break art and profile description as [Eternal Beauty] Quinella in ''Rising Steel'' depicts her enjoying a bath.
--> ''Eternal beauty... how boring. Listening to the sounds of water drops falling, she finally can relax and wash all these thoughts away. Cracks of light illuminated on her skin while her wet hair accentuated her undeniable beauty. She stretched out her elegant legs from the snow white bathtub as the fragrance of flowers wrapped itself around her aura. Through the thin screen of steam, her allure entices''
* BeautyIsBad: The [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Underworld's Most Beautiful Woman]], and a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] {{Sociopath}} with a {{Sadist}}ic streak and has no qualms with manipulating and [[MindRape Mind Raping]] anyone to suit her own ends.
* BigBad: For the first half of ''Alicization'', she is the head villain, being the leader of the Axion Church and thus the world itself. She is responsible for Alice's arrest, the corruption in the nobility, the lack of preparation the Human Empire has for the Final Stress Test, and the later revelation of the even more sinister plot of converting the Human Empire into Sword Golems to battle the Dark Territory.
* BlatantLies: She swears to the Goddess Stacia that if Chudelkin helps defeat her enemies, she'll let him do whatever he wants with her body for one night. While Chudelkin can't fathom the idea of lying, Kirito knows that Quinella doesn't believe in Stacia, so her oath means nothing. Cardinal is smart enough to see through this, and insists that Quinella swear by the one thing that matters to her -- her own Fluctlight.
* BlowYouAway: Blasted Eugeo aside using a gust of wind after thwarting his assassination attempt.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Her skin starts cracking when she's near death after Kirito stabbed her.]]
* BodySurf: First started doing this [[spoiler:once she realized that her current body could no longer contain all her memories and needing a new body to store her new experiences]], but as time went on it became about [[spoiler:attaining complete immortality.]]
* BoobsOfSteel: Presumably as part of being the [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Underworld's Most Beautiful Woman]], Quinella has a considerable bust and, despite the fact that she spends most of her time sleeping, she is the most powerful Sacred Arts user of her time and has basically memorized every possible sword skill and technique, making her quite possibly the most powerful being short of a PhysicalGod and allows her to give Kirito one of the toughest fights of his life.
* BreakoutVillain: Subverted. While she doesn't get to return to the series after her defeat, the anime does seem to acknowledge her popularity by not only giving her additional scenes but ones that depict her in a redeeming light.
** [[spoiler:After her initial defeat the anime adds a scene that shows her spirit getting to proudly observe the empire she created one last time as she passes on.]]
** [[spoiler:In ''War of the Underworld'', her spirit returns after Bercouli is killed in combat and the two are reunited TogetherInDeath.]]
* CastingAShadow: Generated a ball of darkness using the Umbral Element Sacred Arts, and can have ''Silvery Eternity'' fire bolts of ''dark lightning''.
* ClothingDamage: After Eugeo [[spoiler:breaks free from her brainwashing and]] attacks her, her nightgown is left shredded, with it losing losing it's durability and disappearing soon after.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: She's the first BigBad who is a female and isn't a human from the real world, a sharp contrast with her predecessors. She's also the first villain who isn't an obvious EvilCounterpart to Kirito, instead paralleling Alice. She's also the first who had her fall to villainy and ascension to power told in great detail, rather than being presented as just another bad guy straight from the get-go.
* ControlFreak: Quinella is a corrupt, narcissistic and callous psychopath [[spoiler:who is not above killing, torturing, and brainwashing anyone to keep UW for herself]], though her methods of doing so are different from the standard. [[spoiler:She spends most of her time asleep in order to preserve precious memory space, but the laws she placed over the land and its people might as well be God-given edicts to follow consciously or subconsciously [[RealityWarper given her authority]] and are enforced by her Integrity Knights]]. In the backstory, [[spoiler:while she fused with the Cardinal System to regulate UW, her original intention was to outright ''steal'' its powers and authority for herself.]]
* CorruptChurch: She is the Pontifex of the Axiom Church, which is the leading authority in the human empire, but is more akin to a tyrant that rules the land with an iron fist while painting the allusion she's a benevolent ruler and emmisary of the gods.
* TheCorrupter: Quinella preys on Eugeo's emotions and his desire to be loved, twisting his memories and breaking him, before turning him into her own loyal servant.
* DarkActionGirl: Being female does not stop her from being gifted at sword fighting.
* DarkMessiah: [[BitchInSheepsClothing Preaches herself as the will of God and the savior of humanity]], when in reality she governed the human realm with an iron fist and is concerned with nothing but self-preservation.
* DeathByIrony: Quinella, a ControlFreak who manipulated and brainwashed people into having UndyingLoyalty to her, [[spoiler: is burned alive by Chudelkin, quite possibly her most obsessive follower.]]
* DeathEqualsRedemption: {{Implied}}. [[spoiler: While the spirit of her Bercouli meets when he dies is stated to be the version of her that exists in his Fluctlight, and in turn is more benevolent than she actually was, what’s hinted to be her actual spirit appears to cheer Kirito on when he fights Gabriel.]]
* DirtyCoward: Despite being more competent and attractive than Sugou, she's very rotten to the core and the reason why she's a ControlFreak in the first place is because [[spoiler:she fears losing power and influence to the people of UW.]]
* DidntSeeThatComing:
** Her biggest undoing is failing to anticipate that Kirito and Eugeo's swords are not made from metal, which she has not made herself impervious to.
** [[spoiler:Nor Chudelkin barely surviving his injuries and ruining her getaway, killing her in the process.]]
** [[spoiler:She also got one in the Gameverse, [[OhCrap when she realized]] that the blade that Kirito wielded (which originally belonged to Medina and the blade was fused with her Fluctlight) is revealed to be a divine object made out of an actual human's flesh and blood, meaning it had the capability to use Armament Full Control as well. Plus, since it's revealed that Medina's bloodline is actually the [[LivingMacguffin the key to create the gate to the real world]] the blade had a [[RealityWarper reality bending power]] as well, which ultimately led to her downfall.]]
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Surprisingly PlayedForLaughs in the ''If You Were Here'' timeline. After Kirito reveals that he knows about the Synthesis Ritual and tries arguing for why she shouldn't perform it on him and Eugeo by noting how tedious the process of doing the ritual then [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind wiping]] the people they interacted with would be, she ends up ''whining'' about how much of a "[[PrecisionFStrike pain in the ass]]" the whole thing is and admits that the only reason she still does it is because she's done it so many times with the same "Summoned from the Celestial Realm" story that revealing the truth to her Knights would effectively screw her over.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Serves as the BigBad of the first half of ''Alicization'' before Gabriel takes over.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Since her adult life, she wears just ankle wraps. She retains those even when naked.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:Her forced synthesis of Eugeo looks ''very'' suspiciously like she's seducing him... [[http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/File:Vol_13_-_197.png or past that point already]] and gone to full-on sex.]]
* DoWrongRight: In "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", one of her issues with Rath trying to use two different "natural" disasters to kill off some Fluctlights and possibly spur the survivors into fighting for food is that she saw it as "uninspired".
* DracoInLeatherPants: InUniverse: [[spoiler:After he dies, Bercouli happens to meet Quinella's ghost, or more accurately the version of her that existed in his Fluctlight before he learned of her true nature and as a result is a much kinder and warmer individual to reflect how he saw her beforehand, with the two of them treating each other like old friends as they pass on.]]
* DragonRider: Like her Integrity Knights, Quinella has a personal riding dragon who she has dubbed Yukiori and is apparently the oldest and strongest of the dragons the Knights use. Like its master, it appears to spend most of it's time asleep.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:After fusing with Cardinal, the sub-process within it deemed Quinella "an error" due to her intentional direct manipulation of the UW residents and, in times of emotional distress, took control of her with the intent of making her kill herself. After several failed attempts due to Quinella taking back control at the last second, she only stopped this by forcibly sealing her emotions away.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: While already quite corrupt, Quinella becomes increasingly vile the more power she attains. [[spoiler:''Rising Steel'' implies that while she started as an earnest and sweet girl despite being Nobility, being given a Calling dedicated to advancing the Sacred Arts and making great deals of progress, being able to weaponize it and make weather predictions, followed by her village believing her to be a goddess as a result, was her StartOfDarkness.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Her first scene has her waking up in bed while completely nude, showing that she has no problem showing off her sexuality.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** In her own warped, twisted way, she did seem to care about the Underworld as the world she created. [[spoiler: This could be why her spirit appears to support Kirito during his fight against Subtilizer, seeing as the [[OmnicidalManiac latter plans to destroy the Underworld.]]]]
** The Cake timeline also depicts her as close with Yukiori, her own personal riding dragon, with Kirito even describing her as looking like a normal girl when seeing her interact with them.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even she is sick of Chudelkin's shenanigans and often tells him off when he's being rude to the Integrity Knights or going over the top in smothering her with praise. It's a wonder why she even keeps him around.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Quinella has no understanding of what love really is. To her, love is just desire, something that can be acquired through an exchange, and a means of controlling people.
* EvilCounterpart: To Alice. Like Quinella, Alice was very talented in the Sacred Arts. One of Alice's most well-known abilities was to predict a storm one week in advance at a rather young age, while Quinella was also able to predict the weather in advance, though only 3 days in advance. A notable difference between the two is that Quinella was born in a noble family in the capital, while Alice was born in a family of villagers in one of the most remote villages in the Human Empire. It's implied Alice might have walked down a similar path to Quinella had Eugeo and Kirito not been in her life from near the start.
* EvilGenius: Quinella is an esteemed prodigy and the greatest Sacred Arts user seen in the Underworld. She managed to invent many rituals herself, as well as discovering every System Command in that existed in the Underworld.
* EvilIsPetty: Brainwashing and forcing immortality on skilled swordsmen and criminals so that they can enforce her control is one thing, but learning she did the same to some seemingly random girl with a knack for Wind Sacred Arts just so she can have someone to ''[[MundaneUtility operate an elevator]]'' is where you truly realize how low her opinion of the Underworld's residents is.
* EvilIsSexy: She's widely known as the most beautiful woman in the Underworld. She knows she's attractive and uses her beauty and sexuality to her advantage by seducing others.
* EvilLaugh: While she usually remains calm and composed, when she really gets in the moment then she can let off some unhinged cackles.
* EvilVersusOblivion: The Anime hints that this [[spoiler: is why her ghost supports Kirito during his fight with Gabriel, since she, [[ControlFreak for]] [[ManipulativeBitch all]] [[MindRape her]] [[LackOfEmpathy faults]], [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes did care for the Underworld in her own twisted way]], whereas [[OmnicidalManiac Gabriel]] was planning to destroy it and turn it into his personal world where he's God and can manipulate the souls he sees fit.]]
* ExactWords:
** [[spoiler:When Chudelkin requests that he have a night with access to her body in exchange for taking out the rebels, she agrees and swears to Stacia. The thing is, not only does she not believe in Stacia, but she's the one who made her up to begin with, meaning she effectively gave him an empty promise.]]
** The reason she gives for putting Renly into stasis is that he was "defective". While his trauma-induced inability to fight could be what she meant, and is likely what Renly thought she meant, ''Rising Steel'' gives these words another potential meaning; When Renly was synthesized, Quinella was shocked when he asked if there was supposed to be someone with him, referring to his BestFriend who he promised to become an Integrity Knight alongside only [[AccidentalMurder to accidentally kill him during the Four Empires Unity Tournament]]. This tipped her off to the possibility that his memories weren't completely blocked and that the Synthesis Ritual has some issues she needs to fix, giving her reason to Deep Freeze him in case he [[HeKnowsTooMuch remembered everything on his own and blabbed to the other Knights]], with his inability to master the Twin-Edged Wings being a convenient excuse.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:In the anime, [[VillainousBreakdown despite her horror at realizing she's going to die]], she calms down when she sees a vision of the empire and world she always sought to build and manages to find peace with it before exploding, while [[GoOutWithASmile smiling]], no less.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Quinella has an angelic theme to her design. Her light purples and whites give off a generally non-threatening look, and at a glance, one would be forgiven for thinking she were a heroine rather than a villain. Quinella is perfectly aware of her "innocent" appearance, and uses it to mask her true nature as she manipulates others.
* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler:Had she bothered to check and make sure Chudelkin was actually dead (by nature of DisappearingIntoLight, like Cardinal), he wouldn't have been alive to ruin her getaway attempt and kill her.]]
* FanDisservice: Sure, she has [[MsFanservice an extremely attractive body]] ([[ShamelessFanserviceGirl that she has no qualms about showing off]]), but the way she smoothly seduces Eugeo (along with some of her other seductress-esque behaviors) is rather uncomfortable to watch. [[spoiler: Then there's her losing both her arms and getting a TorsoWithAView after [[FullFrontalAssault dueling Kirito in the buff]], with visible cracks all over her body.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: She maintains an air of formality towards her enemies, despite seeing everyone as nothing but fodder for turning into sword golems. When [[spoiler:turning Eugeo into an Integrity Knight]], she showers him with false affection in order to make him remove his core protection. She only drops the facade when encountering setbacks such as [[spoiler:Cardinal fusing Eugeo with his sword]] or Kirito cutting her remaining arm off.
* FinalExamBoss: With her access to the system as Administrator, Quinella knows every fighting style and system call art in the Underworld and how to exploit them, as well as copying the Aincrad Style from [[spoiler: Eugeo's memories]]. It takes [[spoiler: Eugeo's HeroicSacrifice to give Kirito a second sword for his signature dual-wielding style and a HeroicSecondWind]] to even the odds, and even ''then'' she still gives him a solid challenge with only a single arm.
* {{Foil}}: To Sugou, being a more competent DistaffCounterpart to him. Parallels can be seen in that they are both raised as privileged people who grew to be corrupt and made and declared themselves the [[AGodAmI gods of a world]]. They both also perform [[MadScientist awful experiments on innocents]] and have very twisted understanding of love. Kirito also calls both of them out for being false rulers with a GodGuise. However their difference lie in that Sugou is an AbhorrentAdmirer who feels [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to have Asuna]], while Quinella loves no one but herself and only wishes for everyone to server her. In addition while both perform [[MindRape experiments on victims' minds]], Sugou states he does not want to tamper with Asuna's mind except as a final resort due to wanting to turn her into a doll, while Quinella effectively made all of her Integrity Knights into her dolls and outright refers to them as that.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler:Once, she was a simple resident (a noble, yes, but still something not too impressive in the grand scheme of things) of UW that discovered several key facts about the world, such as how to perform offensive commands and that killing things would increase her stats. Developing these powers further throughout her life, she eventually discovered how to raise her Authority to the level of Cardinal itself on her deathbed, making herself a PhysicalGod in the process. [[AmbitionIsEvil Not content with sharing power]], however, she tried to steal Cardinal's powers for herself but only succeeding in [[FusionDance fusing with it]] to gain its functions of regulating the world, but even then she went [[ControlFreak much further than Cardinal intended]].]]
* FullFrontalAssault: She has no problems fighting without any clothes on, as Kirito and Alice found out.
* GainingTheWillToKill: In her backstory [[spoiler:she was among the first residents to realize that she could create offensive commands for the purpose of fighting and killing other things...and then realizing that doing so made her stronger with each kill...]]
* {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler:She twists Eugeo's perception of his feelings and even his own memories to make him believe he's a lonely and forsaken individual that only she herself could "save". She also wipes her Integrity Knights' memories after a century or so to make them forget grievances.]]
* AGodAmI: After attaining the powers of the Cardinal System, she declares herself the Administrator of Underworld, which Cardinal considers the most arrogant name possible.
* GodivaHair: The only thing hiding her lady bits whenever she's naked is her long hair, along with some rare [[SceneryCensor strategic object placement]].
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:In the anime, just as she's dying, she sees one last vision of the empire she once controlled, looking at it with pride before she's gone for good.]]
* GratuitousEnglish: Being well versed in System Commands and their meanings, she often spouts English words midspeech.
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:Despite losing an arm, she still has sword skills from both the Underworld and Aincrad, allowing her to overwhelm Kirito until he dual wields his own sword and Eugeo's.]]
* HeavySleeper: She spends the majority of her days in her chambers asleep. Justified, as it allows her to preserve as much memory space in her Fluctlight (and by extension, her lifespan) as possible.
* HeroKiller:
** [[spoiler:Not only did she turn Eugeo into her lackey, but she also killed him. One might also consider Charlotte's death given how it was her Golem, or Cardinal, since she fried her with energy blasts, before the latter used the last of her strength to empower Eugeo before his eventual demise.]]
** [[spoiler: In ''Lycoris'' she killed Medina instead, though in reality this was part of Medina's BatmanGambit to kill Quinella, so Quinella unknowingly [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard doomed herself instead.]]]]
* HeyYou: She always calls Kirito "boy," as a reference to his coming from another world.
* HumanShield: [[spoiler:Quinella's Sword Golems are not only effective killing machines which [[TheJuggernaut never stop fighting for all eternity]], driven by the emotion of love that got twisted into blind instinct, but the fact that they were once humans means that Cardinal cannot bring herself to attack them.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", she's quick to realise that Rath caused the recent volcanic eruption and storm to spur the Fluctlights there into breaking the Taboo Index, and bemoans their cruelty after fixing the issue herself. While [[HypocriteHasAPoint not wrong of her assessment of Rath]], she has little room to call them out seeing as she sees every other Artifical Fluctlight as little more than dolls or bugs for her to toy with, and is not above subjecting them to experiments for her own research endeavours.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: Played with. She actually did age normally all the way to the end of her natural lifespan, but she was able to restore her youth just in time and then granted herself immortality, forever preserving her with the appearance of a twenty something woman.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Stabbed in the heart by Kirito during their duel - which lands a critical blow. [[NotQuiteDead It doesn't kill her though]], since she had a sliver of health left - enough to make a last-ditch escape attempt.]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:After ''Silvery Eternity'' was destroyed and her right arm was severed, she decides to transform her arm into both a rapier, and later, a katana, in order to fight Kirito.]]
* InsistentTerminology: {{Implied}}. She's not shown to have any real issues with her old name, but she goes by "Administrator" in the present and appears annoyed when Kirito calls her Quinella instead.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Attempted to [[spoiler:steal Cardinal's Authority and/or destroy it simply because she couldn't stand the idea of another having equal Authority as her over UW. It did become ''slightly'' more justified when revealed that Cardinal tried at multiple points to make her kill herself after their [[FusionDance fusion]]... but only because Quinella by that point had already started [[ControlFreak directly interfering with the lives of UW residents, something she wasn't supposed to do at all]].]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After arrogantly promising to grant Chudelkin's wish to touch her body if he disposed of the rebels, with no intention of keeping her word. Guess who ends up killing her? Chudelkin using [[NotQuiteDead his last breath]] to Incarnate the remains of his broken body into a fiery swarm and launches himself at Quinella so he can finally get the reward she longed for, with Quinella both horrified and disgusted at the repulsive clown touching her body.]]
* KickTheDog:
** Her turning the Elevator Operator into what she is, an immortal EmotionlessGirl forced to recite Wind Sacred Arts all day with very few breaks to the point that she's forgotten her own name, is seen as this by Kirito and Eugeo and as a sign of how she views the people she rules over. [[spoiler: And that's before she introduces the Sword Golem...]]
** [[spoiler:She plays a major part in causing Kirito's GameBreakingInjury and BreakTheCutie phase for the next three books by cleaving Eugeo in half.]]
** [[spoiler:She's also utterly contemptuous of Chudelkin even after he "dies" fighting for her. Alice, despite being fairly cold, is quite appalled at how callous Quinella is over the death of one of her servants. Although considering Chudelkin's general behaviour, this comes off more as KickTheSonOfABitch]].
** She also taunts Alice over how painful the process of forcibly turning her into an Integrity Knight must have been.
** In a flashback, she contemptuously dismisses the traumatized Renly as "broken" before sealing him away.
** In the Gameverse, her labelling the Orthinanos family as "defects", knowing that the weight of her words would make them pariahs among the nobility and subject it's descendants to horrendous abuse from other nobles.
** In "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", she immediately refuses Alice's plea to help a Southacroith village when it comes under attack by monsters after suffering the aftereffects of a volcanic eruption and getting hit by a powerful storm. And while she does fix it in the end by putting a stop to both of the latter two, she only does so as in a move of spite towards Rath, who she realized caused both the eruption and the storm to force the residents to do their whims.
* KillItWithFire: Not only does she possess fire spells, [[spoiler: but Chudelkin setting her on fire is what does her in, and ''by accident'', no less.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: [[spoiler:Quinella created loyal followers that came to be known as her Integrity Knights, who have]] their memories sealed off [[spoiler:and will unquestioningly carry out her bidding.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: Has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nu-0D8gPbk a theme]] consisting of a choir's ominous chanting.
* LightIsNotGood: She has long white hair and wears a white gown, and she's the Underworld's SatanicArchetype.
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: She tends to dress in lavender/white and is otherwise associated with bright colors, while Kirito continues his DarkIsNotEvil theme, especially prominent when he uses Incarnation to manifest his Black Swordsman attire from SAO.
* ManipulativeBitch:
** [[spoiler:She manipulated Eugeo into removing his Core Protection to turn him into a Integrity Knight, using {{Gaslighting}} and praying on his [[IJustWantToBeLoved loveless background and skewed idea of it]].]]
** In Scheta's segment of "The Knight's Recollection", she spends the entire event grooming Scheta to be a powerful attack dog for her to use. Tempting her with "a sword that can cut through anything", she actively encourages her obsession with cutting and lies, [[AccidentalTruth or so she thinks]], that her continuing on her path would find her a way out of it to motivate her. She then goes as far as to manipulating another Knight into duelling Scheta, likely knowing he'd be killed, just to test the Black Lily Sword's capabilities.
* MasterSwordswoman: [[spoiler:Despite losing an arm, she proves skilled enough to keep pace with Kirito while he's DualWielding against her, even managing to take one of his arms at the cost of her remaining one.]]
* MySkullRunnethOver: After ruling for seventy years as an Immortal Ruler, Quinella discovered that her [=FluctLight=] had reached its limit of stored memories, [[spoiler:so the solution she came up with was overwrite a child's [=FluctLight=] with her own memories and [=FluctLight=] using the Synthesis Ritual. Though this would be her undoing as she ended up giving this girl [[PhysicalGod power equal to her own]] and she would end up becoming Cardinal.]]
* MoralMyopia: When asked why she would go the atrocious deeds of enslaving the souls of innocent people to become her Integrity Knights and not even being able to entrust them, she argues that her Piety Modules she implanted in her knights were out of an act of love which she reserved only for them, as it freed them from worry and pain and making them beautiful dolls who didn't need to think. In Quinella's eyes all her actions are just and she has done nothing wrong.
* MsFanservice: Has been regularly referred to as beautiful, voluptuous, and her clothing doesn't try to hide much of her figure, [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl if she's even wearing any]]. Not to mention how she [[spoiler:seduced Eugeo and fought against Kirito and Alice in the nude.]]
** In ''Rising Steel'', most of her Limit Break art has her naked in some way, [Sweet Trap] having her laying seductively in her bed, [The World I Should Love] having her [[FullFrontalAssault fighting nude]], [Eternal Beauty] [[BathingBeauty showing her in the bath]], and [Whimsical Rhapsody], which has her sitting seductively in an ornate sofa. The only exception thus far is [The Glow in Your Hands] Administrator, and even then she's the first Administrator unit to [[FullFrontalAssault enter battle]] and appear on the homescreen in the buff. She only avoids the nudity on all sides as [Memories in the Snowy Skies] Quinella, instead wearing a SexySantaDress.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Fitting for one who considers herself the goddess of UW and [[PhysicalGod has the power to back it up]].
* {{Narcissist}}: Quinella believes that as the elegant "goddess" of UW, everyone should kneel before her.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Quinella's attempt to amend her [[MySkullRunnethOver overflowing memory]] by imprinting to another [=FluctLight=] was what allowed Cardinal to split off from her and seize control of another individual, the little girl who would come to be known as Cardinal and resist her.]]
* NoSell: She made her skin as hard as iron and therefore impervious to any metal weapon. This is why Eugeo's dagger failed even with the element of surprise. [[spoiler:There's a ''heavy emphasis'' on the weapon being ''metal'' however - Eugeo and Kirito's swords bypass this drawback by being '''made''' of ice and wood, respectively - even ''Divine Objects'' are transmuted by Quinella herself into metal weapons in an attempt to counter this loophole.]]
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: While she claims that turning half the Underworld (including her Knights) into sword golems is for their own safety, it's clear by her actions that she's nothing but a narcissistic ControlFreak who's no better than any of the other psychopaths Kirito has faced, like Sugou or Laughing Coffin. In fact, [[StupidEvil Quinella's refusal to allow the existence of any military force that she can't control has doomed the realm of humanity]], and this realization helps Kirito win Alice over to his side.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's almost exclusively referred to as "The Pontifex" or "Administrator" rather than Quinella. She's somewhat amused when Kirito calls her by her name.
* PetTheDog: A few examples, though [[ControlFreak all things]] [[TheSociopath considered]], they could all just be PragmaticVillainy.
** In "Homeside Waterfront", Alice states that she got a valuable catalyst from her to use to heal Amayori's seemingly unhealable wound.
** In "Memories of Bygone Days: Bercouli", while baffled at first, she takes Bercouli's request to make a giant bathhouse rather seriously.
* PhysicalGoddess: She imbued her [=FluctLight=] with the Cardinal sub-processor, which was essentially the god of the Underworld, and hence amassed its unlimited power.
* PlayingWithFire: Ranked up by killing foxes with fire arrows, and can shoot fire from her fingertips without having to recite anything.
* PosthumanNudism: Discards her entire dress after attaining godhood by implanting the administrative abilities inside her [=FluctLight=].
* PragmaticVillainy: Her outlawing of things like murder and entering the Dark Territory where there's monsters is done less for the sake of morals and protecting her people, but more to ensure that no one can do what she did to increase her Object Control Authority and System Authority growing up, ensuring her place as the most powerful being in the Underworld.
* PrehensileHair: [[spoiler:After losing both her arms, she resorts to turning her hair into needles. She also attempts to use a console by using her hair as fingers, or as razor-sharp blades and CombatTentacles in a last ditch-attempt to kill Kirito with in their duel.]]
* PromotedToPlayable: She is a playable character in several mobile games, and currently has the most playable appearances out of all the antagonists.
** In ''Memory Defrag'', she's first introduced as [Seductress] Administrator as part of the ''Sleeping Art Online'' April Fools Event, where she serves as the BigBad. Later on, she gains two more Units called [Coneqeror of Love] and [High Pontifex].
** Has her most playable appearances ''Rising Steel''.
*** [Sweet Trap] Administrator, featured in the “Gift from the High Pontifex” banner and her first playable Unit; a [[LightIsNotGood Light-Elemental]] Break Unit with a unique skillset that allows her to gain more Charge or inflict more Break when her foes are afflicted with Continuous Damage.
*** [The World I Should Love] Administrator, featured in the “Fearless Resistance” banner; a [[PlayingWithFire Fire-Elemental]] Charge Unit with an [[SuperMode Enhance Mode]] that has her do a FullFrontalAssault, while her Charge deals Continious Damage while her Assault deals added damage to enemies afflicted with it.
*** [Eternal Beauty] Administrator, featured in the "Eternal Beauty" banner; a magic wielding [[BlowYouAway Wind-Element]] Charge Unit with an [[SuperMode Enhance Mode]] whose playstyle focuses on increasing the Recollection Field to deal more damage.
*** [Whimsical Rhapsody] Administrator, featured in the "1.5 Anniversary - Part 3" banner; a Non-Element Charge Unit who's the closest to a SupportPartyMember, possessing a Charge Move that increases the party's critical damage while debuffing the enemies Incarnate Break, an Assault Skill that increases the party's attack, and a heal move that increases the party's physical resistance while adding a bar to the Recollection field.
*** [The Glow In Your Hands] Administrator, featured in the "Memories of Bygone Days Part 2" banner; another [[PlayingWithFire Fire-Element]] Charge Unit, though with a different skillset. This version of her puts a good deal of emphasis on increasing Charge, her Charge attack creating more when the Recollection field is three or higher, her first Assault Skill increasing her personal charge by x1.3 for one turn, and her Incarnate Skill creates a Recollection Field that, while active, increases the party's Charge when Incarnate is 40% or lower. And to round things up, her second Assault Skill deals Continuous Damage and adds 1 to the recollection field.
*** [Memories in the Snowy Skies] Administrator, featured as part of the Christmas-themed scout of the same name; an Earth-element Break Unit who can recover her own HP with her Break Skill, DrawAggro with her Assault Skill, and can buff herself to increase her ATK to up to 30% and her Physical Resistance to up to 50%, as well enabling herself to CounterAttack whenever she's hit.
* ProperlyParanoid: Her decision to [[NoSell make herself immune to metal]] and make it so ''every'' Divine Object she makes or bequeaths to her Knights are made of metal proves to be this when Eugeo's attempt to use Cardinal's Dagger on her fails, as it would have teleported her to Cardinal's domain and given the latter a homefield advantage against her. [[spoiler: She's further vindicated when she fights Kirito, with him being able to defeat her due to both the Night Sky Sword and Blue Rose Sword not being able of metal, instead being wood and ice respectively.]]
* PurpleIsPowerful: Her white outfit and hair has light purple shades in them, along with her eyes, and she's certainly [[PhysicalGod powerful]] as the Administrator of Underworld.
* RapunzelHair: A major feature is her incredibly long hair, which is appropriate given her past as a noblewoman and now as the ruler of the world.
* RealityWarper: [[spoiler:Possessing Cardinal's Authority gives her the ability to use very high-level System Commands that virtually allow her to shape the reality of UW to her will.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: She's 363 years old and retains her youthful appearance, both of which are made possible only after meddling with the Cardinal system in an attempt to control it.
* {{Sadist}}: Despite freezing most of her emotions, she still takes pleasure in [[spoiler:killing Cardinal slowly]] and states that she wants to see Kirito's despair.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She acts like one in regards to the Knights, often overlooking any rudeness, such as when they're initially summoned and Eydis' informal behaviour, and granting certain requests, such as Linel and Fizel's desire to become Integrity Knights after freeing them from her Ressurection experiment. This is in contrast to Chudelkin, who endlessly picks on them over anything he can find and often gets angry when they do something that could be seen as disrespectful to himself or Quinella.
** [[spoiler: In "Memories of the Abyss", she further cultivates this image by letting Eydis off the hook after she lost control of her Divine Object and attacked Bercouli, knowing fully well of the possibility of that happening.]]
* SanitySlippage: It's really subtle but in ''Lycoris'' [[spoiler: after her first death, she absolutely lose herself when Kirito managed to kill her and when she got resurrected she'll do anything to screw him and the others, along with the entirety of the Underworld, on their attempt to kill her again, especially Kirito whom she despise so much that she willingly bring down the entire Underworld just to kill him. This get worse when Kirito finally defeated her for the second time and by the third and the final time Kirito fought her, she's reduced to LaughingMad from combination of her defeat, her continuous resurrection and [[ImpliedTrope perhaps]] from wielding the power of the Main Visualizer (since the power give her an omnipresence, meaning she knew about everything in Underworld but it's heavily implied wielding such a great power is to much for her soul).]]
* SatanicArchetype: Her backstory paints her as one. She rebelled against the Underworld's version of God in order to become one herself, setting herself up as one gifted by the gods before constructing a false faith in her own name, eventually succeeded in her goals, and ruled by her specially-prepared laws [[spoiler:and her Integrity Knights]].
* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: After attaining godhood by imprinting Cardinal's system administrator abilities onto her [=FluctLight=], she decided she was above simple things such as clothes, discarding her garments and often staying fully nude. WordOfGod says that she doesn't feel shame about being nude because she's realized she's in a simulation. Even her body isn't truly real, so what's the point of caring?
* SinisterMinister: She fancies herself as Axiom's high minister and rules UW with an iron fist.
* SleepsInTheNude: She's introduced to the audience [[NakedOnArrival sleeping naked in her luxurious bed]].
* SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat: A huge jump from all of her predecessors in both power and threat. While previous SAO villains did make Kirito struggle, he could typically take them down on his own with limited assistance from the respective ArcHero. Quinella however is godlike and initially towered over Kirito, whereby it took several [[spoiler:sacrifices from his friends to wear her down before the playing field had been leveled for Kirito to match her]]. Also unlike the other villains who restricted their crimes to game communities, she has ruled over a human empire for centuries. [[spoiler: Not only is she the first villain since Kayaba [[AnArmAndALeg to land a significant physical blow]] to Kirito, she's also the one to severely damage Kirito's mental health, to the point where he becomes comatose and depressed (thanks to killing his friends), something that no other villain has come close to. Even to this day, her killing of Eugeo still haunts him, and that's ''after'' he defeated the next, more [[InvincibleVillain invincible villain]] - Gabriel Miller.]]
* TheSociopath: She never cares for the welfare of the UW people because [[ItsAllAboutMe it's all about her in her head]]. {{Justified|Trope}} [[spoiler:in that she had to seal her emotions to prevent [[FightingFromTheInside Cardinal]] from [[DrivenToSuicide making her kill herself]] during times of emotional distress... but also double-subverted in that Quinella had already begun her experiments into manipulating the UW residents by this time, so she already was a psychopath, she just made herself worse]]. She feels no remorse for the trouble she's caused and even convinces her victims that she's helping them by twisting their feelings and memories.
* StatuesqueStunner: Towers over the other female characters, being even taller than Kirito despite being the same biological age as him appearance-wise.
* StrongAndSkilled: While she could be mistaken for UnskilledButStrong at first with her over-reliance on her godlike Administrator powers and mastery of the Sacred Arts, she is revealed to be as well versed in sword combat as Kirito himself. Even having worn her down with weapons that can harm her, she still spends a fair share of the fight thrashing Kirito by showcasing her knowledge of Sword Skills. After all, she did fuse with the Cardinal System and knows of the ''entire command list'', so it's not like she couldn't gain the knowledge one way or another, either by peering through Eugeo's memories, or by having the Cardinal system record the data every time Kirito or Eugeo swung their swords.
* StupidEvil: Quinella's ControlFreak tendencies bite her in the ass when it's revealed that humanity is doomed because she refuses to allow the existence of any military force that isn't under her complete control. This realization is what convinces Alice to turn on her in favor of Kirito. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}} in that she ''did'' have a plan. It just involved a lot HumanSacrifice to create robotic soldiers made of swords, which is arguably even worse.]]
* SuperToughness: She's made herself ''immune'' to iron and all forms of metal, which is what most weapons in the world are made from. This is why Kirito and Eugeo's swords, which aren't made of metal, are able to hurt her.
* SweetTooth: UpToEleven in the Cake Timeline, where being able to eat the new, exotic cakes Kirito replicates in the Underworld is the reason she's considering [[HeelFaceTurn working together with]] [[ArchEnemy Cardinal]] [[HeelFaceTurn to properly protect the Underworld from invasion]].
* TermsOfEndangerment: She uses the affectionate "-chan" honorific on Alice, even after it's become clear that Alice is now her enemy. She also occasionally calls Cardinal "Lyserith-chan."
* TooPowerfulToLive: [[spoiler:Notably Quinella is the first villain who was not allowed to remain alive after her defeat[[note]]Kayaba [[SelfDisposingVillain chose to take his own life]][[/note]], albeit not by Kirito's hand. Had she succeeded in escaping to the real world, she would have been able to cause all sorts of chaos.]]
* TorsoWithAView: [[spoiler:After Kirito impales her in the heart, what's left behind in the impact spot is a large hole in the center of her chest.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: In an original story in ''Rising Steel'', we learn that before she received her Calling as a Sacred Arts researcher, Quinella came off as [[SpoiledSweet a kind girl who wanted to receive a calling so she could benefit her village in spite of her Noble Status]], a far cry from the [[{{Sadist}} Sadistic]] ControlFreak we meet in the present.
* TheVamp: Seduces Eugeo with the promise of fulfilling his desire to be loved, even stripping off all her clothes in front of him.
* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:After Kirito deals her a lethal wound she attempts to escape to the real world in a robotic body. It would have worked if [[SpannerInTheWorks Chudelkin]] had not been still alive.]]
* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:When Kirito calls Quinella out on all the atrocities she committed of controlling her world, Quinella counter-argues that he's from a world of people who did the same thing by creating a world for their own purposes. So what right does a boy from such a world have to judge her?]]
* VillainousFriendship: PlayedWith. Despite him being more of a HeroAntagonist than genuinely evil, she seemed to have a friendly relationship with Bercouli, the two of them apparently drinking win together in her quarters often and her even opening up to him about her {{Paranoiac}} tendencies that prompted her ControlFreak nature. Of course, [[TheSociopath knowing her]], she may have just been faking it.
* VillainousBreakdown: She loses her cool when Eugeo [[spoiler:fuses with his sword, enabling him to destroy her Sword Golem and cut off her arm - or when Kirito later impales her through the heart later on. While she could easily shrug it off the first two times (on account of having said arm transformed into a second sword, and an escape route into the real world), what really seals the deal is the panic on her face when Chudelkin unexpectedly shows up and sets her on fire, which thwarts her escape and eventually kills her, though she manages to [[GoOutWithASmile regain control before her death]].]]
** Her breakdown is even more profounded in ''Lycoris'', after Kirito manage to break her rapier with [[spoiler:,the currently fused Eugeo, Blue Rose Sword]] and Kirito used the Night Sky Blade to kill her, she let out a shrill SkywardScream and she died with a face full of agony and hatred toward the man who killed her. [[spoiler: Let just say when she get resurrected, she'll absolutely do anything to kill him and his friends to the point cutting of the Underworld communication with the real world '''AND''' bringing down the entire Underworld just to kill him simply out of spite. Pretty much showing how much [[SanitySlippage she had lose herself]] by the time of the final act had began.]]
* VillainTakesAnInterest: She's done this with a few of her Knights.
** She apparently took a quick interest in Eydis after Synthesizing her, with her promising to give Eydis a dragon after her first mission, the earliest any Knight at the time has got theirs, and surprising Bercouli by expressing a desire to grant her a Divine Object upon her return, sending her to grab the material for it after only her second mission, curious as to whether she's maintain control of the sword's memories or lose her mind in the process. She also took notes from the experience so she could refine the Synthesis ritual.
** Upon Scheta's recruitment, she approached her and proceeded to tempt her with a sword that could cut through anything, and then [[ManipulativeBitch encourages]] her cutting obsession after she made it and granted it to her. She's disappointed however when Scheta requested to be put into Deep Freeze after she accidentally killed a fellow Knight in a duel, whom she offered to give a Divine Object to should he best her in a duel, pondering if she screwed up the Synthesis ritual or made the Black Lily Sword too sharp.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Even after her death, her reputation as a benevolent ruler is maintained due to the unrest that would be caused by her true nature going public. Kirito actually fears that the people learning of her death at his hands would ruin his own OneHundredPercentAdorationRating as the Star King and head of the Human Unification Council.]]
* WeaponOfChoice: ''Silvery Eternity'', her RoyalRapier, signifying her prestige and authority as the Ruler of the Underworld with its pimped-out design. [[spoiler:It ends up a WreckedWeapon during her fight with Kirito when Eugeo decides to intervene.]]
* WeCanRuleTogether: She offers this to all three of the Rulid trio.
** She first gives it to Eugeo offering him the love which he has desired all his life, to which he ''very nearly'' submits after being broken by her MindRape. Eugeo gets voluntarily subjected to Synthesis and Synthesised into an Integrity Knight, but eventually breaks free and tries to incapacitate Quinella himself with a special dagger created by Cardinal. Upon his betrayal being discovered, Quinella offers him a last chance to pledge his loyalty and destroying Cardinal's dagger. Eugeo of course refuses having finally come to understand what love is.
** After she sees Alice has broken the Seal of the Right Eye by her own volition, she offers to re-Synthesise Alice so she would no longer feel pain or emotion. Alice angrily rejects this proposal, citing the pain allowed her to realize she was human and not a doll-like Integrity Knight.
** She even gives this offer to Kirito, stating she'd spare his life if he went into her servitude as her secretary. Kirito of course pays no heed and continues fighting.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Inverted. Quinella actually constantly preaches love and that she gives it to her loyal followers, but the twist is that she does not truly understand what love is, using it as a placeholder word for 'desire' or 'control'.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: [[spoiler: After her first death in ''Lycoris'', Quinella attempt to resurrect herself cause her consciousness to stuck within the Main Visualizer, in which she manage to get an omnipresence ability, but it turns out that gaining omnipresence proves to be to much for her mind to handle that she winds up losing what last bit of her sanity and reasonable thinking, to the point she pretty much decide to preserve herself just because that was the only thing she can do with, which signing Quinella complete fall from grace to the point the entire Rulid trio simply pities her when they realize how pathetic and desperate she had became by the final battle, [[DontYouDarePityMe something she takes complete offense at]]. In the end after her defeat, Quinella manage to regain her sanity back as she died and realize how free she felt when the omnipresence ability is finally gone from her.]]
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Stated to be this by a couple of characters, including Eugeo and Kirito. Even before becoming a PhysicalGod, she was seen as one of the great beauties of the Underworld, which likely helped her convince people of her divinity.
* WouldHurtAChild: As Linel and Fizel can attest to, she has no problem harming children or using them in her Sacred Art experiments. In fact, in the one the aforementioned girls were in, she gathered about thirty children and had them all kill each other so she could test out a Sacred Art to [[BackFromTheDead bring people back from the dead]], leading to large amounts of BodyHorror, and only stopped when only Linel and Fizel were left, coming out of it severely traumatized and as the CuteAndPsycho girls we now know.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: A reoccurring theme brought up with her is her inability to understand ''love''. She believes love is simply desire and that it can be acquired through an exchange. She also seems to believe that love is a means of controlling others, whereby she twists the emotion into making her Integrity Knights and her Sword Golems fiercely loyal to her.
--> '''Quinella''': To love is to control. I love everything. I rule everything.
----
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prime Senator Chudelkin]]
!!Prime Senator Chudelkin
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/WataruTakagi (Japanese), Creator/FrankTodaro (English)
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/omake_screencap_sword_art_online_alicization_episode_21_chudelkin_patched_up.jpg]]

Leader of the Senators, a group dedicated to enforcing the Taboo Index.
----
* {{Acrofatic}}: Despite appearances, his main mode of transportation is to BeTheBall and he proves to be surprisingly nimble, constantly dancing and prancing about and is even able to do a headstand. [[spoiler: Possibly {{Subverted}} when it turns out he's [[NotHyperbole literally]] full of hot air.]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Given his drastically different NonStandardCharacterDesign, it really makes one wonder what his species is.
* BadBoss: Chudelkin is notorious for abusing the Integrity Knights; he rudely dismisses all of their concerns about the possibility of invasion by the Dark Territory, he insults them over the most trivial things, and is all too willing to Deep Freeze them if they displease him. [[UngratefulBastard This is despite the fact their existence alone is what prevents the Dark Territory from launching a full-scale invasion]].
* BerserkButton: ''Don't'' even think about calling him a lump of meat if you don't want [[OffWithHisHead your head torn off]].
* BeTheBall: His primary form of transport is to curl into a ball and bounce about the place.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He looks like a clown and seems relatively silly. But he's a {{sadist}}ic individual who's highly skilled with Sacred Arts, and so should not be underestimated.
* DirtyOldMonk: While his exact age is never specified, though he's {{Implied}} to have been bossing Bercouli around for a while, Chudelkin, as the Prime Senator, is technically a member of the Axiom Church's clergy, yet he's an obsessive StalkerWithACrush towards Quinella, [[spoiler: even requesting that he get a night with free access to her body in exchange for killing the Rulid Trio]], and one of the Skits during "Overflowing Eternal Affection" Scout hints that he at least once entered the Great Baths during the girls times while Eydis was using her privacy to mock him.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He threatens to turn Eugeo into a horse the next time he fails to address Chudelkin with the "Kakka" honorific (roughly equivalent to "Your Excellency") after his "Prime Senator" title.
* TheDragon: He’s the second-in-command to Quinella, and unlike the Integrity Knights, he is straight out evil and delights in committing atrocities for her.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He only ever refers to Integrity Knights by their numbers rather than their names.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Has a very deep gravelly voice and is likely the most evil being in the Axion Church save for Quinella herself. The dub makes his voice deeper yet to the point it resembles ComicBook/TheJoker.
* EyeScream: While casting his most powerful Sacred Art that conjures a giant fire genie, he burns his own eyes out.
* EvilIsPetty: When he's briefly brought BackFromTheDead in ''Unleash Blading's'' second anniversary event, he forms an alliance with Sugou and Gabriel to crash Eydis' party since he wasn't invited.
* FatBastard: A pudgy fat man dressed like a clown who constantly mocks everyone around him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He speaks with a formal and polite tone, yet has no issue with addressing others condescendingly.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Less friend and more acquaintance. While he is on the same side as the Integrity Knights and technically their boss, none of them like him given he [[BadBoss treats them like trash]]. Bercouli in fact outright despises him and when given the chance doesn’t shy away from directly insulting him.
* GigglingVillain: He lets off a laugh of "Hoh-hoh-hoh!"
* GlassCannon: He is one of the most powerful Sacred Users of all time (and possibly the best other than Quinella and Cardinal). However he had nothing in the way of physical combat, and goes down very easily if he takes damage.
* GreenEyedMonster: He is obsessed with Quinella and becomes aggressively jealous if she so much as even gives attention to anyone else.
* {{Gonk}}: He's a short, pudgy man with heavy makeup who doesn't look much like anyone on the Integrity Knights' side.
* HatedByAll: It soon becomes clear there is absolutely no one, hero or villain, that likes Chudelkin. The Integrity Knights all range from not caring about him to outright despising him. Even Quinella [[FauxAffablyEvil feigns politeness]] around him and is all too eager to cast him aside like trash when he’s [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]]. In reality, she's also repulsed by him.
* InsistentTerminology: Always chastises anyone who doesn't refer to him by "Prime Senator".
* {{Irony}}: He, Quinella's most fervent follower, [[spoiler:is the one who kills her in the end.]]
* JerkassAtYourDiscretion: He's a very rude and abusive BadBoss who torments anyone in sight... until Quinella appears where he suddenly piles on praise and polite language. [[spoiler:The most direspectful he ever gets is asking if she'll sleep with him if he disposes of Kirito, Eugeo and Alice, and even then he phrases it like a humble request]].
* {{Kevlard}}: Inverted; while he's [[FatBastard pudgy]], he can take little punishment.
* KickTheDog: He gleefully recounts how poorly Alice was treated, and how she despaired once her hopes of being able to return home were dashed before she ended up becoming an Integrity Knight, particularly how she begged not to forget the people who were most important to her.
* LightIsNotGood: Wears some white, and is a {{sadist}}ic PsychopathicManchild.
* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulated the Integrity Knights into fighting Kirito and Eugeo by putting them under the belief that they were invaders from Dark Territory.
* MisterBig: As the Prime Senator, he's the highest authority in the Central Cathedral save for Quinella herself. Yet he's diminutive and barely taller than a child. Also worth noting is he is a contender for the most powerful Sacred Arts user in the Human Empire, barring Quinella.
* MonsterClown: He dresses more like a jester than a clown, but otherwise he still gives off these vibes, and unlike the Integrity Knights he's unconditionally evil. Some of the characters even derogatorily refer to him as a clown.
* TheNapoleon: Chudelkin is a short, arrogant man.
* NoIndoorVoice: He yells at the top of voice for often no reason at times, to anyone other than Quinella.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:It looked as though he had already met his end at the hands of Kirito, with Quinella even casting his lifeless body aside. But we later see he wasn't quite finished yet, and he uses presumably the last of his Durability to launch himself at Quinella's body to finally touch and be with her, much to her horror, whereby he burns the both of them out.]]
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Everything about him, all the way down to his clashing colors and the 8-bit sound effects, looks nothing like a ''Sword Art Online'' character and more like he belongs in a completely different franchise.
* NotBrainwashed: Alice speculates that Chudelkin may be a victim of Quinella just like the Integrity Knights. Whether or not this is true, what's made clear is Chudelkin had full knowledge of what Quinella was really doing and not only supported her but actively partook in the immoral activities himself.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: He may be small, but he's a very powerful Scared Arts user.
* PlayingWithFire: His most powerful Sacred Art involves summoning a gigantic fire genie.
* ThePowerOfLust: He's generally spends the arc as a DirtyCoward, but he's immediately motivated to fight when [[spoiler: Quinella offers him a night with access to her body if he kills the Rulid Trio, even summoning [[PlayingWithFire a giant, fiery version of himself.]]]]
* PsychopathicManchild: He's clearly an adult, but acts extremely immature; he throwing tantrums over the most trivial of things, dresses like a clown, and he giggles at the silliest of stuff. His private quarters is brightly colored room full of children's toys, like a child's bedroom. "Fearless Resistance" even shows him angrily bouncing up and down in response to Quinella requesting a late-night meeting with Bercouli so he can give his mission reports. However he is also AxCrazy and [[{{Sadist}} enjoys torture or ordering the execution of others]].
* {{Sadist}}: He enjoys executions and torture.
* SitcomArchNemesis: In ''Rising Steel'', while he seems to have beef with every Knight, he and Eydis simply cannot stand each other, with him always getting upset at her blatant lack of respect for him and laid back attitude.
* {{Slimeball}}: He rivals Sugou as the most detestable character in the whole series. Aside from the fact he's an evil MonsterClown, he's also smarmy, manipulative, and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betrays his own allies without a second thought after coming upon someone more useful]]. In stark contrast to Quinella who is seductively FauxAffablyEvil, he's downright [[BadBoss abusive and condescending]] to the Integrity Knights and outright calls them puppets to do his bidding. He's a DirtyCoward who flees the second he's in danger and will not hesitate to reducing himself to grovelling. He also reveals he's just as sickly perverted as any of the other SAO villains before him (if not worse), lusting for Quinella and requesting he spend a night with access to her body if he were to dispose of the rebels.
* SmokeOut: [[spoiler: It turns out his "fat" might actually be a large amount of smoke he has in his clothes, as shown when Alice impales him, causing it all to burst out and cover his escape.]]
* SmugSnake: Chudelkin is this in regards to the Dark Territory; he dismisses all the Knight's concerns about possible invasion. In ''Rising Steel'', he even berates Eydis when she doesn't kill a group of them she finds doing something suspicious, instead opting to play it safe and report back to Bercouli, which many agree is the smarter option.
* SquishyWizard: He's not much of a physical fighter, but he's incredibly skilled with Sacred Arts which are so destructive he can easily be a OneManArmy in his own right.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:He hugs Quinella while he's on fire, immolating her before she can escape to the real world via a console.]]
* VillainsWantMercy: As soon as things go south, he's reduced to a [[VillainousBreakdown blubbering wreck]] who begs for his life.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: A rare villainous example. Typically he derogatorily refers to the Integrity Knights via their numerical designations. When Alice defects and holds him at sword point, with his life on the line he finally refers to her as "Alice" to try and appease her.
* YouHaveFailedMe: He plans on reprocessing the Integrity Knights (or at least Bercouli and Fanatio) after seeing Bercouli fail to defeat Eugeo.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Quinella has no qualms with tossing aside Chudelkin's lifeless corpse after Kirito offs him.
[[/folder]]

!!Glowgen Defense Systems

[[folder:In General]]

A [[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates US]]-based company that was hired by the National Security Agency to assault the Ocean Turtle to obtain the Soul Translator technology secretly developed there.
----
%% *AmbiguousSituation: The reason why the NSA decided to launch their attack on Ocean Turtle is not delved upon.
* AnimeAccentAbsence: They are supposed to be Americans, but speak perfect [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseLanguage Japanese]].
* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: They're all comprised of criminals. Captain Dario Ziliani remarks that (with the exception of Gabriel Miller), none of the Glowgen operatives had any sense of discipline.
* {{Eagleland}}: Given that they're the antagonists in ''Alicization'', it's the boorish variety. They're also Americans.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Rath.
* FighterMageThief: Villain example. The three main faces of the group could be seen to have this dynamic.
** Gabriel is the Fighter, being the PhysicalGod who relies on aggressive WeHaveReserves tactics against the Human Army. He also is powerful enough to be a match for several heavy-hitters like [[spoiler: Bercouli, Sinon (who's logged in as [[PhysicalGod Solus]]), and a recently revived and empowered Kirito]].
** [=PoH=] is the Thief, being a ProfessionalKiller who can sneak into the human encampment and kill several guards. He also later [[spoiler: ambushes the Human Army and ALO players with his army of Chinese and Koreans]].
** Critter is the Mage, being TheCracker who hacks into the Ocean Turtle's system to log Gabriel and Vassago in. He even [[spoiler: recruits and logs in foreign players to serve as Gabriel and Vassago's reinforcements]].
* GratuitousEnglish: They slip a lot of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEnglish English]] words into their dialogue as a way of showing [[JustifiedTrope they are not Japanese]].
* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler: After the mission ends, Critter suspects the surviving team members are likely to be detained or even killed due to the American Government not wanting it to leak that they violated their treaty with Japan and led an attack on one of their facilities. Because this could cause an international incident, he stole a data-chip before they left the Ocean Turtle; he was hoping to use it to bargain for his life]].
* PostFinalBoss: [[spoiler: After the defeat and (seemingly for the latter) deaths of [[BigBad Gabriel]] and [[TheDragon Vassago]], the remaining mercenaries declare the mission a failure and attempt to blow up the Ocean Turtle before leaving. Though, one of them stays behind in [[AvengingTheVillain hopes of avenging his partner]]. It takes the combined efforts of Kayaba in a robot body and Kikuoka to prevent the bomb from going off]].
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: They operate in this way. It's a case of TruthInTelevision, as the GDS HQ is located in [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} San Diego]]. In RealLife, there's a heavy presence of both the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks U.S. Navy's Point Loma base]] and [[SemperFi U.S. Marine Corps Camp Pendleton]] in San Diego County. It means there are innumerable corporations [[note]] (mainly related to industries like communications, biotech, and engineering) [[/note]] in the region with major Department of Defense contracts.
* ProfessionalKiller: All of Glowgen's operatives specialize in assasinating people.
* RedOniBlueOni: Vassago is the impulsive and hotheaded red to Gabriel's calmer and logical blue.
* UnskilledButStrong: As experienced in assasination the operatives are, as Vassago himself remarks, they are no match for soldiers with formal training like the JSDF.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gabriel Miller / Subtilizer / Vector]]
!!Gabriel Miller / Subtilizer (GGO, UW) / Vector (UW)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkiraIshida (Japanese), Creator/RieKugimiya (Japanese, young), Ted Sroka (English, ''Alicization''), Creator/GregChun (English, ''War of Underworld''), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English, young)

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabriels_real_life_concept.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see Vector]]\\
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabriel_vector_anime.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see the True Gabriel Miller]]\\
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabrielmiller.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

--> "''Your soul will be so sweet.''"

Chief Technological Officer of "Glowgen Defense Systems" and son of the founder and former [=CTO=]. During the events of the Alicization arc, he leads a 12-men team of operators, at the request of the National Security Agency, on an assault of the Ocean Turtle.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Despite his status as the strongest being there, [[TheSocialDarwinist which dictates that they follow him unquestionably]], none of the Dark Territory members seem to actually like him or are genuinely loyal to him. [[spoiler:Shasta and Lipia die trying to kill him, Fu Za stopped Shasta out of a personal grude as opposed to loyalty]], [[TheStarscream Dee Eye Ell has plans to usurp his authority]], Kosogi thinks he's being manipulated by Dee Eye Ell and uses LoopholeAbuse in regards to his orders, Lilpilin is angered when he orders [[spoiler: 3,000 of his people dead for a spell]], and Iskahn is disgusted by his WeHaveReserves mentality enough to [[spoiler: betray him himself]] and even before that he was [[spoiler: rooting for Shasta when he made an attempt on his life.]]
* AchievementInIgnorance: He has no idea how [[spoiler:he managed to consume Lipia's [=FluctLight=]]], but he doesn't care and is delighted nonetheless.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** {{Downplayed}}. [[spoiler: The Light Novel depicts him as somewhat UnskilledButStrong, due to lacking much skill in swordsmanship but compensating for that with the Vecta account's stats and PowerOfTheVoid, something which is {{Lampshaded}} by Bercouli during their duel. In the Anime however, he's depicted as being much more skilled with the Vecta account's sword and Bercouli's observation on his lack of swordsmanship prowess is adapted out.]]
** Weird [[ZigZagged Zig Zag]], with two scenes swapping his reactions to certain events. [[spoiler: When he presented Lipia's head to lure out the treasonous general, he actually displayed concerned when Shasta attempted to kill him and turned into a murderous tornado, trying to strategize a way out before determining there is none. Later on in his fight with Bercouli, he's noted to have a completely expressionless face when Bercouli finally kills him with the Uragiri, dying with nary a sound. In the anime, his reactions to both of these are swapped, with him keeping a straight in the face of Shasta's charge yet displaying surprise and even howling in pain when killed by the Uragiri.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: As much of a bastard he is in the lightnovels, he actually manages to be worse in the anime, having a penchant for [[spoiler: [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]]]] that was never present in the lightnovels.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:During their fight, Sinon's final attack destroys his arm in addition to the [=XM500=] he generated. He temporarily replaces it with [[ArtificialLimbs one made of pure energy]] for his final duel with Kirito.]]
* AnimalMotifs:
** In his introductory chapter, Dario Giulani, the captain of the ''USS Jimmy Carter'', the sub that would transport Gabriel's forces right before the Ocean Turtle raid, describes him as having hollow eyes that "devoured all light like a bottomless pit" like the great white shark that he encountered while he was swimming in Miami. Considering [[YourSoulIsMine the type of person]] Gabriel is, this is fitting.
** He also has a minor link with insects; his interest in the soul was born out of curiosity over his father's insect collection and a insect's strange ability to survive things like getting their heads bitten off, wondering where their souls could be. The first opening for ''War of Underworld'' also shows him at a desk with a frame of frozen butterflies behind him.
* AnimeAccentAbsence: Despite being an American, his Japanese is perfect. In fact it is his GratuitousEnglish which has a Japanese accent.
* TheAntiGod: As the Dark God Vecta, he is this to Goddess of Creation Stacia. In the mythology of Underworld, Vecta was the one god who was not created by Stacia, being a sentience who was birthed from the darkness itself and opposed Stacia, envying her power. He also became the reason why humans die, as he steals their lives over time, effectively making him TheGrimReaper, but his origins also make him effectively {{Satan}}.
* ArchAngelGabriel: Named Gabriel and has a backstory and personality painting him as a SatanicArchetype, making him a FallenAngel so to speak. He even takes on an angelic form when he goes OneWingedAngel, termed his "Angel of Death" form where he gains a dark shadowy form with six wings and a halo.
* ArchEnemy:

* NearVillainVictory: He manages to outmaneuver the Human Empire Army with his elaborately effective {{Uriah Gambit}}s, have [=PoH=] drive the heroes back into a corner by inviting thousands of Chines and Korean players into the underworld and exploit their hatred against the Japanese for all its worth, and would've won by capturing Alice [[spoiler:if it weren't for Kirito's [[CameBackStrong last-minute mental recovery]]]].

* BadBoss: He has little regard for the lives of his forces and will do anything to get what he wants, including killing anyone who questions him. [[spoiler:When Gabriel leaves the Dark Territory forces at the mercy of the American players he invited, they pull an EnemyMine with the Human Empire]].

* OmnicidalManiac: In his words, if he succeeds in capturing Alice, he'll blow up UW and its people next. [[spoiler: He is only topped by Vassago, who also wants to kill off the demon army he lords over, [[TheStarscream and himself by proxy]], all ForTheEvulz and then some.]]

* TheMusketeer: His signature weapons are his eponymous "Death Gun", and a crudely built estoc made from warship armor plating, neither of which he uses at the same time, only using the latter against Kirito. {{Justified}} since [[spoiler: the pistol can only be used on players who his IRL accomplices can enter the homes of and poison, meaning that using it on anyone who doesn't meet these requirements and therefore wouldn't be killed would break the illusion.]]

* TheSociopath: She never cares for the welfare of the UW people because [[ItsAllAboutMe it's all about her in her head]]. {{Justified}} [[spoiler:in that she had to seal her emotions to prevent [[FightingFromTheInside Cardinal]] from [[DrivenToSuicide making her kill herself]] during times of emotional distress... but also double-subverted in that Quinella had already begun her experiments into manipulating the UW residents by this time, so she already was a psychopath, she just made herself worse]]. She feels no remorse for the trouble she's caused and even convinces her victims that she's helping them by twisting their feelings and memories.

* EvilIsBigger: Being a mercenary, Gabriel is large and solidly built, and this translates to when he logs in as Vecta, as Underworld Avatars share the real world aspects of their users. {{Justified}} since he's an American, who would be taller than your average Japanese man.

** In ''Rising Steel'', all of her Limit Break art thus far has her naked in some way, [Sweet Trap] having her laying seductively in her bed, [The World I Should Love] having her [[FullFrontalAssault fighting nude]], [Eternal Beauty] [[BathingBeauty showing her in the bath]], and [Whimsical Rhapsody], which has her sitting seductively in an ornate sofa. The only exception thus far is [The Glow in Your Hands] Administrator, and even then she's the first Administrator unit to [[FullFrontalAssault enter battle]] and appear on the homescreen in the buff.

* EvilerThanThou: As monstrous as Quinella was, Gabriel manages to be far far worse.

** Seeing Sinon use Incarnation to transform Solus' bow into her PGM Hecat, he does the same and transforms his crossbow into a XM500 Anti-Material rifle, where the two proceed to have a SniperDuel.

* PowerOfTheVoid: His "Darkness of the Void", which sucks in a person's willpower and Incarnation with varying
effects, like [[ForcedSleep inducing unconsciousness]] and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia causing brief memory relapses]].

* BewareTheSillyOnes: He looks like a clown and seems relatively silly. But he's a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] individual who's highly skilled with Sacred Arts, and so should not be underestimated.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: During her and Kirito's confrontation with him, Alice briefly speculates that Chudelkin might be [[NotSoDifferentRemark similar to the Integrity Knights in that he was someone who Quinella manipulated for her own ends to act as her]] [[UndyingLoyalty loyal servant.]] However, she also states that he deserves no pity in spite of this since unlike the Knights, he derived far too much pleasure from his role as TheDragon to the High Pontifex, such as the sadistic glee he gained from putting Alice through the Forced Synthesis Ritual.

* LightIsNotGood: Wears some white, and is a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] PsychopathicManchild.

* InternetJerk: Many of the Foreign players shown definitely give into their darker impulses, being borderline [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] [[BloodKnight Blood Knights]] who enjoy every moment they spend killing the "Enemy [=NPCs=]". The [[UsefulNotes/{{China}} Chinese]] and [[UsefulNotes/SouthKorea Koreans]] arguably take it further, since their summoning gives them a chance to let out a lot of their resentment towards the Japanese.

!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/WataruTakagi (Japanese), Frank Todaro (English)

* MindManipulation: [[spoiler:Quinella created loyal followers that came to be known as her Integrity Knights, who have their memories sealed off and will unquestioningly carry out her bidding.]]

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAliceZuberg Alice Zuberg]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

!!Nobuyuki Sugou / Oberon the Fairy King (ALO)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (Japanese), Creator/ToddHaberkorn (English), Enric Puig ([[UsefulNotes/SpanishAccentsAndDialects European Spanish]]), Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (Latin American Spanish)

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sugoufairydance.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see Oberon]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oberon_7.png[[/labelnote]]]]
-->"''I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that name in this world. You should address me as His Highness, Fairy King Oberon!''"

The director of RECT Inc.'s research institute who is in fact a MadScientist behind close doors. He hijacked the minds of 300 of the SAO victims (including his then-fiance Asuna) and traps them in his own game [=ALFheim=] Online to experiment on them. The antagonist of volumes 3-4.

For Alberich, the version of him from the [[VideoGame/SwordArtOnline Gameverse]], see [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineVideoGame this page]].

* AbhorrentAdmirer: To Asuna. Sugou freely admits that Asuna has ''always'' hated him, and that was before the events of the Fairy Dance arc, when he traps her in a cage in ALO for two months and makes multiple attempts to sexually assault her before [[AttemptedRape trying to rape her]] outright. When holding her captive, Sugou asks for Asuna's love, and Asuna tells him point-blank that he'll have to make do with her disgust and hatred.
* AdaptationalBadass: Both times he's appeared as a boss in ''Rising Steel'', he's presented as being much more dangerous, utilizing a variety of magic attacks to fight off a party of up to six enemies.
* AllMenArePerverts: Literally ''every'' scene Sugou shares with Asuna has him drooling all over her. He [[PervertedSniffing sniffs her hair]] while she's [[DudeShesLikeInAComa in a coma]], traps her in ALO just to lord over her in a bird cage, constantly gropes and sniffs her, and finally licks her face and rips her clothes off before [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil trying to rape her outright]]. He's even worse in the video game continuity, where he [[PowerPerversionPotential takes advantage of his super account to override Kayaba's Harassment Code and sexually assaults more than one female player]], and his Oberon self in ''Accel World vs. Sword Art Online'' lewds over several other girls before becoming [[SingleTargetSexuality fixated on Asuna]].
* AlwaysSecondBest: To Kayaba, which drives him nuts. To drive it home, when [[spoiler:Kayaba effortlessly overrides Sugou's control of ALO and grants Kirito admin privileges to turn the tide, Sugou's immediate response is to [[PsychopathicManchild throw a temper tantrum]], whining about how even in death, Kayaba's getting in his way and one-upping him.]]
* ArchEnemy:
** He cements this status for Kirito. While he was already an awful person for kidnapping over 300 SAO survivors and [[MadScientist keeping them captive in ALO for his sick experiments]], he [[ItsPersonal makes it very personal for Kirito]] for what he does to Asuna. Upon Kirito finding Asuna still hasn't woken up, Sugou reveals he was the one who had trapped her in another game and rubs it in Kirito's face that he is going to forcibly marry Asuna. When Kirito goes into ALO in an attempt to rescue Asuna, Sugou abuses his admin privileges to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture Kirito]] before [[ForcedToWatch sexually assaulting Asuna in front of him]]. When finally given the chance, Kirito [[PayEvilUntoEvil wants nothing more than to spill his blood and make sure it's as painful and humiliating as possible]]. The feeling is mutual on Sugou's side, who comes to deeply hate the weak boy who defied him and foiled his plans. Sugou wants him dead above all else, to the point where it surpassed his obsession with Asuna and leads him to try to kill Kirito in the real world.
** He is also one to Asuna. While not as pronounced as Kirito, there is unlikely to be a person on the face of the Earth who Asuna despises more than her ex-fiancee. First off she is kidnapped by Sugou on her way of logging out of SAO, where she ends up [[DamselInDistress trapped and caged as his prisoner]], forced into [[GoGoEnslavement revealing clothing for his perverted fantasies]]. When Kirito comes to rescue her, Sugou arrives and [[GravityMaster incapacitates them both]], [[ColdBloodedTorture stabs Kirito through the back with his own sword with the pain absorber off]] to [[ForcedToWatch force him to watch]], then subjects Asuna to a ShamefulStrip while chained up and [[AttemptedRape comes close to raping her]]. He also [[EvilGloating gloats]] that he'll [[BrainwashedAndCrazy use mind control]] to force her to fall in love and marry him.
* ArrangedMarriage: ''Was'' the fiancé of Asuna chosen by her parents. In her parents' defense, he admits that if they knew how she felt about him, they would have called it off in a heartbeat.
* AttemptedRape: During the climax of the Fairy Dance arc, Sugou molests Asuna and is just about to rape her in front of Kirito, before Kirito frees himself, obtains admin privileges from Kayaba's digital spirt, and beats the crap out of him.
* AxCrazy: His childish, sickening obsession of dominating everyone around him leads him to trap 300 people to perform sadistic mind games with them, almost rape Asuna while trying to make Kirito watch and he actually tries to ''murder'' Kirito in real-life after he gets his ass beat.
* BeautyIsBad: PlayedWith. While he's not noted to be especially attractive IRL, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse looking like your average Japanese salaryman]], his Oberon Avatar in ALO on the other hand has flawless skin, long blonde hair, extremely handsome features, and decks himself out in rich looking clothes to match his "king-ly" status. However, Asuna notes that it looks ''too'' perfect, which only serves to make him look unnatural instead of attractive.
* BigBad: The primary antagonist of the ''Fairy Dance'' arc, kick-starting the plot when he reveals he was responsible for keeping Asuna trapped in ALO, forcing Kirito to enter the game to rescue her.
* BigBadWannabe: While the legitimate BigBad of the Fairy Dance arc and introduced as the villain following up Kayaba, he's ultimately just a shallow imitation of his predecessor. The entire system for his game was hijacked from SAO and he even shows himself to be extremely jealous of the far more talented Kayaba. His inferiority is cemented when [[spoiler:Kayaba ''easily'' overrides the code in his game and gives Kirito admin privileges, while Sugou is helpless to do anything about it but whine and cry.]]
* BigOMG: His response in the English dub when he realizes that [[spoiler:Kayaba overrode his control of ALO and gave Kirito admin privileges, followed by a temper tantrum about how even in death, [[AlwaysSecondBest Kayaba is]] ''[[AlwaysSecondBest still]]'' [[AlwaysSecondBest beating him]].]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Asuna's father Shouzou viewed him as a friendly, bright prodigy, to the extent that he set up an ArrangedMarriage between him and Asuna and intended for him to inherit his company, RECT Inc. In reality, Sugou is a CorruptCorporateExecutive and a StalkerWithACrush towards Asuna who not only trapped 300 [=SAO=] survivors, including Asuna herself, in [=ALO=] in order to conduct inhumane MindControl experiments on them, but also planned to brainwash and rape Asuna and take control of the company. After Kirito defeats him, the sheep's clothing is flung off.
* BlasphemousBoast: In reply to Asuna declaring that God himself will not forgive his depravity, Sugou sneers "There is '''no''' God in this world... [[AGodAmI except for me!"]]
* BondVillainStupidity: After stabbing Kirito through his back and spine with Kirito's own sword, Sugou, rather than just finish him off and be done with it, decides to torture him by slowly decreasing the Pain Absorber, on top of making him watch while he molests Asuna, just to be a sadistic asshole. This buys [[EvenEvilHasStandards Kayaba's digital spirit]] time to save Kirito, granting him access to his ID and admin privileges, both of which outrank Sugou's own, and which Kirito uses to set Sugou's in-game level to 1 before using the Pain Absorber on Sugou himself, killing him so brutally that Sugou is left permanently injured IRL. Even though Sugou had no way of foreseeing Kayaba's intervention, that still wasn't exactly a smart move.
* BreakTheHaughty: Due to his position as GameMaster of ALO, Sugou has ''quite'' the bloated ego, to the point of [[AGodAmI declaring himself a god]], and believes there's nothing Kirito can do to stop him. His delusions of godhood come to a crashing halt when Kayaba's VirtualGhost saves Kirito and grants him admin privileges to turn the tables, proving that even with the former dead, Sugou is ''still'' AlwaysSecondBest to Kayaba. This is only the beginning of his HumiliationConga; immediately afterwards, Sugou is left trembling in fear before an enraged Kirito, and by the time [[ColdBloodedTorture Kirito's]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch done]] [[PayEvilUntoEvil with him]], Sugou is left [[InelegantBlubbering a whimpering, blubbering wreck]]. It happens again when he tries to attack Kirito in real-life, going from smugly gloating about how he's going to kill him and continue his research to crying his eyes out in fear and wetting his pants the minute Kirito turns the tables on him again.
* BringMyBrownPants: He pees in his pants, after [[ScreamsLikeALittleGirl screaming his lungs out]], after Kirito overpowers him in real-life.
* BroughtDownToNormal: Kayaba grants Kirito his user ID and along with it admin privileges that outrank that of Sugou. With this, Kirito proceeds to set Sugou's Oberon avatar to level 1, removing all unfair advantages he had before, before Kirito lays down the pain upon the bastard and inevitably killing his in-game avatar.
* CantTakeCriticism: When Kirito pulls off his HeroicSecondWind and tears him down verbally, [[KirkSummation declaring he's nothing but a "king of thieves, sitting alone on a stolen throne,"]] Sugou is ''outraged'' that Kirito dares speak to him in such a manner and tries to summon [[InfinityPlusOneSword Excalibur]] to cut him down with; unfortunately for him, thanks to Kayaba's intervention, Sugou no longer has [[GameMaster admin privileges]].
-->'''Sugou''': You little punk... you dare... you ''dare'' talk to me like that?!
* CardCarryingVillain: Unlike Kayaba, he is portrayed as straightly and unconditionally evil, and revels in being able to do all the horrible things in ALO that would see him ostracized outside of it.
* ColdBloodedTorture: He experiments on the minds of the 300 SAO survivors, testing their fear and pain responses. Then there's what he does to Kirito during the climax, running him through with his own sword and making him watch as he molests Asuna.
* CombatPragmatist: He's a lousy fighter, but compensates by using his admin privileges to give himself unfair advantages like overpowered stats, equipment, and magic. He also paralyzes Kirito and Asuna with an unreleased gravity spell and gets the jump on Kazuto with a surprise attack, slashing his arm before going for the kill. Tellingly, when Sugou can't rely on his GameMaster powers or such dirty tricks, Kirito [[CurbStompBattle hands him his ass]].
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Aside from being a {{GMPC}}, he and Kayaba are as different as night and day. While Kayaba was [[BlueAndOrangeMorality simply deluded]], Sugou is unambiguously, unconditionally evil and [[CardCarryingVillain revels in his villainy]]. While Kayaba actively participated in the game under the guise of Heathcliff, Sugou was an OrcusOnHisThrone who didn't take action until Kirito was literally at his door. Kayaba posed as a humble player and a noble commander to his guild, while Sugou declared himself to be [[AGodAmI God]] and treated everyone else like dirt while believing he was entitled to have Asuna. Kayaba was StrongAndSkilled, and still a match for Kirito even after [[BroughtDownToBadass forfeiting his admin privileges]], while Sugou is UnskilledButStrong, has ''nothing'' going for him aside from his GameMaster powers, and is curb-stomped by Kirito when he loses them. While Kayaba was a GracefulLoser who [[FaceDeathWithDignity faced death with dignity]], Sugou is a DirtyCoward who goes out whining, cursing, and crying ''both'' times Kirito beats him.
* CorporateConspiracy: Is at the center of one, as he hijacks the minds of 300 of the SAO victims (including his then-fiance Asuna) and traps them in his own game [=ALFheim=] Online to conduct experiments on human subjugation via full dive technology, in addition to attempting to take over RCT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious. His ambition is to [[AGodAmI become a god]] in real life, just as he is in ALO.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: He is the director of RECTO's research institute and the one responsible for keeping 300 Nerve Gear victims, including Asuna, prisoner even after SAO had ended. He did this by transferring them all into ALO for experiments on human subjugation via full dive technology. He also attempts to take over RCT Progress Inc. by marrying Asuna while she is unconscious.
* CrazyJealousGuy: The guy is completely obsessed with Asuna, which fuels a lot of his animosity with Kirito. Especially egregious since he doesn't really seem to actually love her; he was just promised her as part of an ArrangedMarriage, [[EntitledBastard and therefore feels that she's rightfully his.]] This even extends into ''Rising Steel'' where the June Bride event "Holding Hands With You" has him acting as entitled as ever, threatening a fate worse than death on Kirito.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He criticizes Kayaba for having this mindset, but Sugou [[{{Hypocrite}} isn't much better]]. Kayaba's [=FullDive=] technology has considerable potential and seen uses outside of game development, as seen with the Medicuboid, whereas Sugou's only interest in the tech is turning it into a MindControlDevice to fulfill his delusions of godhood.
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: Upon his defeat and arrest, Sugou attempts this, claiming that Kayaba was the one who was ''really'' behind his experiments on the SAO survivors. [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't work]], and he eventually gives in and confesses when one of his employees is questioned.
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Everything he does throughout the Fairy Dance arc is for the sake of making himself a god, both in ALO and in the real world. This is a key component in his MindControl research and experiments on the 300 SAO players.
* DidntSeeThatComing: He believes he has everything in the bag and is unstoppable. He would have been, were it not for Kayaba's VirtualGhost intervening and giving Kirito access to his admin ID, which outranks Sugou's and allows Kirito to turn the tide in an instant.
* DirtyCoward: He spends most of the Fairy Dance arc cocky, composed, and arrogant, declaring himself a god and rubbing in Kirito's face that there's nothing he can do to stop him... as long as he's in control of the situation and has his GameMaster powers backing him up. The minute he's [[DePower stripped of his admin privileges]] and faced with a righteously pissed-off Kirito, Sugou has a massive FreakOut and [[InelegantBlubbering breaks down crying like a scared little girl]]. He's just as cowardly in real-life; he attacks Kirito with a knife, slashing his arm in a surprise attack, and [[KickThemWhileTheyAreDown kicks Kirito multiple times after he falls to the ground]] before trying to kill him... and when Kirito overpowers him, takes the knife away, and states his intention to kill him with it, Sugou panics and immediately tries to make a break for it; Kirito just barely manages to stop himself from finishing him off, by which point Sugou is crying TearsOfFear and loses control of his bladder before passing out.
* DiseaseBleach: In the anime. When we last see Sugou, in a flashback to his interrogation, his hair has turned completely white, no doubt from the shock of Kirito nearly slitting his throat.
* DitzyGenius: He's a VR genius in his own right, though falling a bit short of Kayaba. But he's prone to very blatant BondVillainStupidity moments and can't anticipate very obvious consequences to his actions. Case in point: he believes that there are numerous organizations that would kill to have his research and thus shelter him from the law after Kirito defeats him in [=ALO=]. Instead, he's arrested and incarcerated, with RECT nearly going bankrupt as a result of his crimes.
* DoNotCallMePaul: Insists that he be referred to as Oberon while in the game. Kirito doesn't give a damn and continues to call him Sugou.
--> '''Sugou''': I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that name in this world. You should address me as [[LargeHamTitle His Highness, the Fairy King Oberon!]]
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: Sugou is a major creep with very pale skin and dark brown hair.
* EntitledBastard: Sugou takes this to extreme levels, believing he has the right to do whatever he wants, [[TakeOverTheWorld like rule the world]], and no one has any right to stop him. When he first reveals his true colors to Kazuto, he brags that it's his right to take advantage of Asuna, since RECTO took custody of her and the other 300 SAO survivors, and that he's entitled to compensation for keeping them all alive. Later, when Kayaba's VirtualGhost overrides his control of ALO and gives Kirito GameMaster privileges, Sugou throws a screaming tantrum and rants that Kayaba ''always'' takes everything he considers rightfully his.
* EntitledToHaveYou: His attitude towards Asuna. He even flat-out tells Kirito as such, saying it's his right to take advantage of her and he's entitled to compensation for keeping her and the other SAO survivors alive. Never mind the fact that, as he freely admits, Asuna has ''always'' hated him.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: He thinks that Kirito will be too scared to enter ALO to save Asuna and [[EvilGloating gloats about it to her face]] in an attempt to demoralize her. Not only is Kirito more than strong enough to dive headfirst into the game on the off-chance he can save Asuna, she is well aware of that, and hearing that Kirito knows she's in danger is enough to keep her going for a little while longer. She herself lampshades this, saying that if Sugou had any understanding of love, he would have lied and said Kirito was dead.

** He's an eviler counterpart to Kayaba. Both are technical geniuses and the {{Game Master}}s of the virtual worlds they created, and both are {{Psychopathic Manchild}}ren with [[AGodAmI God complexes]]. However, Kayaba has a NobleDemon attitude and [[FairPlayVillain sense of fair play]] while Sugou has neither.
** To a lesser extent, Kirito. Both ended up being betrothed to Asuna, but while Kirito genuinely won over Asuna's heart and she pursued him herself, Sugou saw Asuna as [[EntitledToHaveYou rightfully his property]] and tried to forcefully make her his by any means possible. Both ended up having overpowered stats in Alfheim Online, but while Kirito had this due to an OldSaveBonus from his time in SAO and even then deemed it cheating, Sugou [[TheGMIsACheatingBastard abused admin privileges]] to make himself an invincible avatar. Furthermore, Kirito proved himself to be StrongAndSkilled being able to backup his stats with hours of VR experience, while Sugou is solely UnskilledButStrong and is completely dependent on his stats and completely useless once he's stripped of his admin privileges. Finally, both ended up being 'successors' to Kayaba and continued his work, however while Kirito was handpicked by Kayaba as TheChosenOne due to seeing the boy's love and passion for the virtual world, Sugou stole all of Kayaba's work in order create his own world where he could rule as a god. Kirito wants to create the VR in order to seek out how it can benefit humanity, while Sugou's motives were only for his own selfish means of [[MadScientist experimenting on helpless players]] in developing mind control tech and as an eventual means to TakeOverTheWorld.
* EvilGloating:
** When he first reveals his true colors to Kirito, he spends several seconds rubbing in Kirito's face how he's going to forcibly marry her within a week, and there's nothing he can do about it.
** He brags to a captive Asuna about his belief that Kirito is too scared to enter ALO to save her in an effort to demoralize her. It does the exact opposite; Asuna ''knows'' that Kirito is more than strong enough to enter ALO if there's any chance of saving her, and knowing that he's still alive helps her HeroicResolve.
** He does it once again after Kirito defeats him in ALO, when he attacks Kirito in real-life. When Kirito tells him he's finished and should just turn himself in, Sugou smugly brushes him off, stating that countless organizations would want his work and thus shelter him from the law, allowing him to continue his research and become a ''true'' king. After Kirito overpowers him and leaves him unconscious in the parking lot, Sugou is proven wrong; he's arrested and incarcerated for his crimes.
* EvilIsHammy: As Oberon, he acts incredibly grandiose and overly dramatic[[spoiler:, particularly when he is beating up Kirito and then later on getting his ass whooped]].
* EvilIsPetty: After revealing to Kirito his ArrangedMarriage with Asuna, he mockingly invites him to the wedding just to twist the knife. He takes great delight in describing Kirito's reaction to said wedding to Asuna, openly admitting he barely stopped himself from laughing at it.
* EvilLaugh: He lets out some AxCrazy cackles during his first confrontation with Kirito. [[http://i.imgur.com/fgXYZ.jpg His face]] certainly adds to his psychopathic demeanor.
* EvilPlan: In his arrogance, he explains one-half of his vile scheme to Kazuto in the hospital, which is to keep Asuna in a VR-coma so he can marry her without her objecting and inherit RECTCO through her. The other half is developing MindControl and memory modification technology for criminal use.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Only in the [[Creator/TakehitoKoyasu Japanese version]]. Averted in the [[Creator/ToddHaberkorn English dub]], where his voice is higher pitched.
* EvilTastesGood: Says something to this effect while [[LecherousLicking licking Asuna's face]].
-->'''Sugou''': Yummy! How sweet!
* EyeScream: Suffered this by Kirito at the final part of his CurbStompBattle by letting his sword fall into him and because of the pain reception he brought up during that fight it transfers into the real world with painful irritation and bad vision from that right eye.
* FateWorseThanDeath: Not outright stated; but considering [[EvenEvilHasStandards The Unwritten Prison Code of Honor]] pertaining to “doing unto him how he did unto her" when it comes to sex offenders, Kazuto ''not'' killing Sugou will doom him to [[BlackComedyRape having a HELL of a time being "everybody's girlfriend" in prison]] for the next 25 or so years...
* FauxAffablyEvil: While Sugou tries to puts up a polite façade, it eventually becomes clear that he's an amoral, {{greed}}y, pretentious {{Jerkass}} with a [[AGodAmI God complex]] who looks down on everyone around him, as well as being a [[StalkerWithACrush perverted stalker]] towards Asuna. It's particularly pronounced in his LastVillainStand, where he casually talks with Kirito at first, before charging at him with a knife with full intent to kill him.
-->'''Sugou''': You're late, Kirito. I've been out here so long, I might catch cold.
* {{Flynning}}: [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] hard by Kirito. When [[TheHero Kirito]] gets admin privileges and demands a duel, it becomes clear that Sugou is not skilled at either games or real swordfighting, because he attacks Kirito's weapon instead of the boy himself, which Kirito [[CurbStompBattle easily deflects and overpowers]].
* {{Foil}}:
** Like Kayaba, he's a technical genius and the GameMaster of the game he created, but while Kayaba built up SAO from scratch, willingly gave up his admin privileges to fight Kirito fairly, was able to put up a good fight without them, and went out gracefully, Sugou stole the entire system of ALO from Kayaba's design, abused his admin privileges to wipe the floor with Kirito, proved to be absolutely no threat without said privileges, and went out whining, cursing, and crying. The biggest difference between the two? Kayaba [[BlueAndOrangeMorality doesn't seem to see the inherent problems with his actions]], whereas Sugou ''knows'' what he's doing is wrong and [[CardCarryingVillain doesn't give a damn]]; instead, he revels in the knowledge that he can do all the things in ALO that would see him ostracized in real-life.
** To Kirito himself. Kirito notes that both him and Sugou shared the experience of being defeated and then forced to work for Kayaba -- the difference being that Sugou tried to become [[AGodAmI Kayaba]], while Kirito defied him. How they approach the concept of WhatYouAreInTheDark also counts; Kirito believes that if you indulge your baser instincts while anonymous online, you end up becoming a worse person as a result, whereas Sugou revels in being able to do all the horrible things online that would see him ostracized in the real world, and uses ALO as [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential his own personal outlet for indulging in his sadism and sick fantasies]].
* ForTheEvulz: He revels in being evil, and delights in being able to commit all manner of atrocities in ALO that would see him ostracized in the real world. Then there's his ColdBloodedTorture of Kirito, where he pins him down and makes him watch as he [[AttemptedRape sexually assaults]] Asuna, purely for the sake of being cruel and lording his power over the two.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: Zigzagged. His real world counterpart (the corrupt corporate executive) wears glasses but his game avatar (the tyrannical king) does not.
* TheGMIsACheatingBastard: Uses an unreleased, overpowered gravity spell on Kirito and Asuna. He then slowly lowers the Pain Absorber to torture Kirito rather than kill him immediately. The latter eventually leads to him being HoistByHisOwnPetard with it being used against him.
* {{GMPC}}: He abuses the fact he has overpowered stats, equipment and magic to fight the heroes. Unlike [[spoiler:Kayaba, who was a skilled fighter and warrior even when he intentionally turned off his admin privileges]], those are the only things going for him as he's pathetic combat-wise. Once [[spoiler:Kayaba's virtual ghost (anime/novels) or Strea (games)]] take his admin status away, [[CurbStompBattle Kirito wastes no time showing Sugou how outclassed and pathetic he]] ''[[CurbStompBattle really]]'' [[CurbStompBattle is]].
* GameMaster: He's the administrator of ALO during ''Fairy Dance''.
* TheGlassesGottaGo: He doesn't wear glasses in ALO.
* AGodAmI: Saw himself as one in ALO and gave himself the identity of "the fairy king, Oberon". His research into MindControl is in part so he can make himself one in real-life as well.
-->'''Sugou''': ''[mockingly]'' Ah, who do you think is going to stop me? Ooh, maybe a god! But sadly, there's none in this world. EXCEPT FOR YOURS TRULY!
* GodhoodSeeker: While he [[AGodAmI styled himself as god in ALO]] and saw himself as such, being the one who created the game, he also seeks to become one IRL by perfecting his MindControl research.
* GoodHairEvilHair: In real-life, his hair is slicked back. During his LastVillainStand, said hair is now a [[MessyHair mess]], showcasing his VillainousBreakdown.
* GreaterScopeVillain: It may not seem like it at first, but [[spoiler: he's this for the War of the Underworld subarc of the Alicization arc. Sugou had put spies within the Ocean Turtle with the intention to sell their tech to foreign governments, thus leading to NSA hiring Glowden Security Systems to seize it]].
* {{Greed}}: Part of his motivation for his mind control experiments. He gloats to Asuna that as soon as his research is complete, he's going to sell it ''and'' RECT to an American organization for "as much as he can." It's also revealed that [[spoiler:he planted spies in the Ocean Turtle with the intention of selling their tech]].
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: His avatar gets chopped in half by Kirito during the climax of ''Fairy Dance'', before getting thrown in the air and impaled through the eye.
* TheHedonist: His lust for power and treatment of Asuna gives him some exaggerated hedonistic qualities.
* HeroesActVillainsHinder: For the majority of the ''Fairy Dance'' arc he's an OrcusOnHisThrone who does nothing to stop Kirito from advancing the game and coming to rescue Asuna. Only when Kirito has made his way to the top of the World Tree does he get off his ass and take action. Even in the real world, he just stands outside the hospital in the snow, waiting for Kirito to show up, and when he does, he gripes that Kirito is late and he could have caught a cold.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Pain Absorption that he used to torture Kirito is used against him when the latter obtains [[GameMaster Administration Powers]] from Kayaba.
* HopeCrusher: He constantly tries to be this for Asuna during her time trapped in ALO, most notably by gloating about his belief Kirito is too scared to enter ALO to rescue her and that he won't be coming. It backfires, since Asuna ''knows'' Kirito will come for her, and the knowledge he's out there helps her HeroicResolve.
* HumiliationConga: Gets hit with this when Kirito pulls off his HeroicSecondWind. First, Kirito revokes his admin status and turns off the Pain Absorber that Sugou had previously used to torture him, insuring that [[YourMindMakesItReal every wound he inflicted on Sugou's avatar would carry over to his real body]]. Then, he uses a voice command to summon Excalibur, [[InfinityPlusOneSword the most powerful weapon in ALO]], and gives it to Sugou, who tries to cut Kirito down with it, only to fail miserably; subsequently, Kirito literally tears Oberon apart, slicing off his arm, cutting him in half, and stabbing him through the eye, killing him in-game. When Sugou later tries to attack Kirito in real-life, he's overpowered, reduced to a sobbing wreck, [[BringMyBrownPants and loses control of his bladder]] before being arrested and incarcerated. His crimes are subsequently made public, and Asuna's parents, call off his engagement to their daughter. In the end, Sugou lost everything; his dreams and ambitions are crushed, his body is [[WoundThatWillNotHeal permanently damaged]], and the whole world now sees him for the cyber-criminal and monster he really is.

** He gleefully subjects Kirito to ColdBloodedTorture, and tries to rape Asuna [[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]. And yet, when Kirito [[PayEvilUntoEvil tortures him right back]] and kills him in-game, Sugou has the gall to give Kirito a WhatTheHellHero, telling him that what he did was cruel.
** He rants about Kayaba, griping about how Kayaba always acts "all high and mighty, like some big shot." This coming from the guy who treats everyone around him like crap, believes he's [[EntitledBastard entitled to do whatever he wants]], and openly declares himself a god.
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Does this to Asuna by chaining her, ripping her clothes off and [[LecherousLicking licking her]], all this right in front of Kirito.
* IfICantHaveYou: His threat of altering Asuna's memories. If she doesn't voluntarily submit to him then he will brainwash her into doing so.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Kirito kills Sugou's Oberon avatar by tossing him up and letting him fall onto his sword [[EyeScream that landed on his right eye]].
* InSeriesNickname: Kirito dubs him "The King of Thieves", since in spite of all his claims that he's [[AGodAmI the king, creator, and god of ALfheim Online]], he actually just stole his power, the lives of 300 SAO survivors, the world someone else completed, and is overall mooching off Akihiko Kayaba's work and inventions.
* InelegantBlubbering: What he's reduced to when Kirito turns the tables on him, both in-game and IRL, is a tearful wreck.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: He fancies himself a big and powerful man, even declaring himself a god, but he's ultimately nothing but a poor imitation of Akihiko Kayaba and he knows it. During his VillainousBreakdown, he whines and throws a temper tantrum over the fact that even with Kayaba dead, he's ''still'' AlwaysSecondBest. Kirito even lampshades it; while both of them were defeated by Kayaba and forced to work for him, Kirito defied Kayaba while Sugou wants to ''be'' him.
* InternetJerk: He may very well be one of the worst examples in all of fiction. While most examples of this trope merely have those online acting as massive jerks which they could not get away with in real-life. Sugou sees being in a virtual world as the perfect excuse to bring a sadistic bastard, conducting inhumane experiments on players and making numerous attempts to sexually assault Asuna, before going for the full on AttemptedRape. And then, Kirito finds out he's just as bad in the real world as he is online, when Sugou tries to kill him using a knife.
* ItsAllAboutMe: He takes [[AGodAmI having a god complex]] to unbelievable levels, thinking that he's entitled to ruling the world and it's not fair if anyone tries to stop his grandiose plans.
* {{Jerkass}}: Sugou isn't just evil, he's a thoroughly a callous and unpleasant dick to boot. Aside from treating Asuna like a doll and [[LackOfEmpathy disregarding her own emotions]], he rubs his impending ArrangedMarriage with Asuna in Kirito's face just to be a dick, looks down on everyone around him, and responds to his attempts to save Asuna from ALO with sadistic mockery.
* KickTheDog: He does this a ''lot''. Highlights include gloating about his ArrangedMarriage with Asuna to Kirito, bragging about the look on Kirito's face when he did so to Asuna, and pinning him down before impaling him with his own sword and making him watch as he molests Asuna while smirking and laughing about it.
-->'''Sugou''': Give me a break. Why don't you stay down and grovel like a GOOD LITTLE DOGGY?!
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Once Kayaba saves Kirito and takes away Sugou's admin privileges, Kirito wastes no time in defeating Sugou as painfully and humiliating as possible, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech verbally tearing down his delusions of godhood]] before brutally killing him to the point where Sugou is left with permanent injuries in real-life. On anyone else, it would've been [[ColdBloodedTorture horrifyingly brutal]], but after all of the atrocities Sugou has committed on top of being a {{Jerkass}} SmugSnake, it's [[LaserGuidedKarma incredibly cathartic]] to watch Kirito put him in his place.
* KickThemWhileTheyAreDown: After impaling Kirito with his own sword, he decides to twist the knife by first changing the Pain Absorber to torture him, then to mess with him even further by [[ForcedToWatch molesting Asuna right in front of him]]. Later, when he attacks Kirito in the real world, he literally kicks him multiple times after Kirito falls to the ground.
* KillerGameMaster: The overpowered spells, the Pain Reception controls, and the fact that ALO is UnwinnableByDesign, all point to a sadistic "Fairy King".
* KnifeNut: He tried to kill Kazuto in the real world with a combat knife. Thankfully he gets his ass handed to him by his supposed victim, who hands him to the police. This thanks to the skills Kazuto learned in-game.
* LackOfEmpathy: He shows no remorse over any of his heinous deeds, and even takes delight in them. Most notably, he views the 300 SAO survivors he trapped in ALO as nothing but guinea pigs for his mind control research and calls them as such. He also believes he's entitled to have Asuna and completely disregards her own emotions, opting to ''make'' her fall in love with him and marry her.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After his AttemptedRape of Asuna and being a ''massive'' {{Jerkass}} to boot, Sugou gets what's coming to him big-time: after acquiring Kayaba's Administrator ID, Kirito kills Oberon so brutally in the game that Sugou is [[WoundThatWillNotHeal left with permanent injuries in the real world]], and after trying to kill Kirito in real-life, he fails, gets arrested, and is forced to confess everything.
* LastVillainStand: After his defeat, he's suffered a complete VillainousBreakdown and has lost everything he had planned to achieve... but still makes one last attempt to kill Kirito in the real world. Kirito beats the crap out of him and leaves him a broken wreck in the parking lot for the cops to arrest.
* LeanAndMean: He's a callous and ruthless psychopath who is also incredibly tall and skinny.
* LecherousLicking: When he is sexually assaulting Asuna in Alfheim Online, she starts to cry in humiliation and he ecstatically licks her tears.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Du9IIc1ldg "False king"]], a more divine but also darker sounding remix of "We Have To Defeat It" that played for the SAO bosses.
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: As Oberon he's the light to Kirito's dark. Kirito is the DarkIsNotEvil [[TheHero hero]] while Sugou made himself into the King of the Fairies and the God of Alfheim Online, giving himself a divine appearance with blonde hair and ornamented with gold.
* LightIsNotGood: As Oberon he gives himself a divine looking avatar with blonde hair and gold ornaments on his robes, but he's one of [[HateSink the most vile characters in the entire series]].
* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: If his ecstatic reaction to the look of fear on Asuna's face, complete with SlasherSmile, as he [[UnwillingSuspension chains her up]] and is about to molest her in front of an incapacitated Kirito is anything to go by.
-->'''Sugou''': Yes! Great! That's what I was hoping for! You can't get NPC girls to make faces like that!
* MadEye: His right eye [[http://www.nerd-age.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Sword-Art-Online-episode-18-Oberon.png bugs out]] while he's gloating to Asuna in episode 18. That same eye later gets this treatment in the real world after Kirito [[EyeScream stabs him through it]] with the Pain Absorber [[YourMindMakesItReal set to zero]]; [[https://villains.wikia.com/wiki/File:Nobuyuki_Sugou_eye.jpg it's permanently bloodshot, with visible veins/scarring extending in all directions from it]].
* MaskOfSanity: He pretends to be a friendly, stable guy, and the act is convincing enough to completely fool Asuna's parents. Beneath it all, he's a totally {{sadist}}ic, AxCrazy {{Jerkass}} prone to {{Evil Laugh}}s and {{Slasher Smile}}s, especially in his role as Oberon in ALO. The mask comes off completely once Kirito defeats and exposes him.
* MeaningfulName: Sugou's surname in Kanji (須鄉) literally means "Fictional Country", doubly meaningful in that not only is he the ruler of one, but that his reign is a ''false reign'' stolen from the hard work of better men and not rightfully his.
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: When Kirito gives him a small cut on the cheek, he freaks out and whines that it hurts. Kirito lampshades it, remarking that it's ''nothing'' compared to [[AttemptedRape what Sugou did to Asuna]]; right afterwards, Kirito proceeds to ''really'' give Sugou/Oberon some wounds to cry about by, in this order, [[AnArmAndALeg slicing off his arm]], [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe cutting him in half]], and finally [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impaling him]] [[EyeScream through the eye]], into the brain area, killing him in-game and permanently injuring him IRL.
* MoralMyopia: When he confronts Kirito outside of the hospital, he's absolutely ''furious'' that Kirito overrode his control of the game and [[WoundThatWillNotHeal permanently injured him]]... when he put Kirito through ColdBloodedTorture, subjected 300 [=SAO=] survivors to inhumane experiments, and [[AttemptedRape sexually assaulted Asuna]] while [[ForcedToWatch making Kirito watch]].
* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: As stated above, Sugou was part of the same class of brilliant VR engineers as Kayaba, and is responsible for hijacking the minds of Asuna and other 300 [=SAO=] survivors to experiment on them for his MindControl research.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: After being defeated in ALO, Sugou attacks Kirito in real-life with full intent to kill, stating outright that he won't accept anything less than Kirito's death for interfering with his plans.
-->'''Sugou''': You think a piece of trash like you can get in my way? Did you think I'd let you slow me down?! Wanna know what the punishment is? Death. I won't accept ''anything'' less!
* {{Narcissist}}: Sugou displays multiple narcissistic traits. He's arrogant, egomaniacal, and power-hungry, to the extent of [[AGodAmI proclaiming himself a god]], and quite manipulative, easily tricking Asuna's parents into thinking he's a friendly HonestCorporateExecutive when he's really using their company for his own twisted ends. He also possesses a grandiose sense of self-worth and expects special treatment from people around him, believing he's entitled to have Asuna even though she completely despises him. Finally, he's unable to handle criticism and takes defiance of his plans ''very'' personally; he views Kirito as beneath him, openly calling him trash and scum, and is outraged when Kirito ruins his plans while verbally tearing down his delusions of godhood and summing him up as nothing but a "king of thieves" mooching off Kayaba's work, to the extent that he outright tries to ''murder'' him in real-life while declaring he [[MurderIsTheBestSolution won't accept anything less than Kirito's death for his interference]].
* NeverMyFault: After his arrest and subsequent interrogation, Sugou initially denied everything and tried to pin the blame for his actions on Akihiko Kayaba. He only gave in and confessed when one of his own employees was brought in for questioning.
* NoOntologicalInertia: His victims, bar Asuna, luckily had no recollection or post-effects of three months spent experimented upon. Neither madness nor suffering ensued once they were freed.
* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: He doesn't know how to keep his hands and tongue to himself.
* NotSoBadassLongcoat: When he attacks Kirito in real-life after losing to him in ALO, Sugou is wearing a khaki trenchcoat. This is after Kirito beat him in ALO, [[YourMindMakesItReal turning off the Pain Absorber]] and [[AnArmAndALeg killing Sugou's]] [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe in-game avatar]] [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice so]] [[EyeScream brutally]] that Sugou has been [[WoundThatWillNotHeal left with permanent injuries in real-life]], and in the ensuing confrontation, Sugou loses once again to Kirito, who just barely manages to stop himself from [[SlashedThroat slitting Sugou's throat with his own knife]]; by that point, Sugou is [[InelegantBlubbering crying his eyes out]] and [[BringMyBrownPants wetting himself]].
* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: When he first encounters Kirito in-game, it isn’t even a battle and more a massacre, where he abuses his admin powers to lay ColdBloodedTorture upon the boy. But as Kirito is lying on the ground, completely helpless with his own sword impales through his back, Kayaba’s VirtualGhost pulls a BigDamnHeroes and shows [[AlwaysABiggerFish his account has even more authority than Sugou]] and gives these credentials to Kirito, who proceeds to [[BroughtDownToNormal reset Sugou’s OP account to zero]], turn off the pain absorber, and lay a CurbStompBattle upon the bastard.
* NotSoStoic: He tries to act as if he's always in control, but his composure collapses when unexpected events happen.
* ObviouslyEvil: As Oberon he gives off a very unsettling air, with his {{Slasher Smile}}s, [[EvilLaugh evil cackles]], and proclaims of [[AGodAmI godhood]]. It's also apparent from his very first appearance that he's a perverted rapist.
* OhCrap:
** He's quite visibly terrified when Kirito, using his newfound GameMaster powers, reduces Oberon to Level 1 and turns the Pain Absorber for Sugou off completely, ensuring that every wound inflicted on Oberon would [[YourMindMakesItReal carry over to Sugou's real body]]. Kirito even [[LampshadeHanging calls him out on flinching and panicking]], something [[AlwaysSomeoneBetter Kayaba]] ''never'' did.
** He does it again when Kirito manages to overpower him and take his knife away in real-life, explicitly stating his intent to use it on Sugou himself. Sugou promptly panics and tries to make a run for it; Kirito doesn't let him get away.
* OpportunisticBastard: He admits to Asuna that he'd been researching mind control using [=FullDive=] for a while, and took advantage of the SAO incident to reroute 300 survivors to ALO for human experimentation.
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Despite holding administrative powers over the world of ALO, he chooses to sit back and observe the chaos from afar while making his own plans. It isn't until Kirito makes it to the top of the World Tree that Sugou actually bothers to get off his ass.
* PaperTiger: He talks a big game and boasts of his so-called godhood, but for all of his bravado, Sugou ''sucks'' at combat and has nothing but his GameMaster privileges to keep up with Kirito. Best shown when Kirito pulls off his HeroicSecondWind and uses Kayaba's ID to [[DePower strip Oberon of them]]; he summons Excalibur, the InfinityPlusOneSword of the game, and gives it to Sugou before taking up his own sword. Even with the strongest weapon in the game, Sugou is no match for Kirito in a straight fight, fails to land a single hit, and goes down in a matter of ''seconds''. It happens again in real-life, where he goes from smugly gloating about how he's going to kill Kirito and continue his research to balling his eyes out and wetting his pants the minute Kirito turns the tables on him again.
* PervertedSniffing: Kirito and the audience first discover Sugou's [[BitchInSheepsClothing true colors]] when, after Asuna's father leaves her hospital room, he sniffs the comatose Asuna's hair. Taken UpToEleven when we discover he went so far as to ''recreate Asuna's real-life scent in ALO''.
-->'''Sugou''': And don't even get me started on how... hard it was to get an analyzer into your hospital room undetected.
* PitifulWorms: He sees himself as [[AGodAmI the god]] of ALO, and thinks so little of Kirito that he calls him, among other things, a "cockroach," a "piece of trash", and "scum."
-->'''Sugou''': The last thing I expected to find was a cockroach in my little bird's cage.
* PowerPerversionPotential: In his attempted rape on Asuna, he summons some chains to string her up as he molests her to prevent her from fighting back. A comment on how [=NPC=] girls don't make expressions like hers [[ImpliedTrope Implies]] that he also used his privileges to use ALO's [=NPC=]s as glorified sex dolls.
* PrideBeforeAFall: He's introduced as an arrogant, self-assured creep, declaring himself the god of ALO and rubbing in Kirito's face that there's nothing he can do to stop him. This culminates in him pinning Kirito down and making him watch as he molests Asuna just to rub in how powerless he is rather than just finish him off and be done with it... which allows Kayaba to grant Kirito access to his admin ID, which outranks Sugou's own, and allows Kirito to finally [[LaserGuidedKarma put Sugou in his place]]. For his ego, Sugou lost ''everything'' and landed himself in prison.
* PromotedToPlayable: He, or at least his Oberon Avatar, is playable in ''Accel World VS. Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight''. [[JokeCharacter He's appropriately pathetic.]]
* PsychopathicManchild: While he can put up a respectable front, BeneathTheMask Sugou is a physically weak, morally spineless coward who just wants to slobber all over Asuna, both in-game and over her comatose body in real-life, and throws temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Best shown when Kayaba's VirtualGhost overrides his control of the game and gives Kirito admin privileges; Sugou whines and throws a temper tantrum, griping about how even in death, Kayaba's getting in his way and taking everything that Sugou considers rightfully his. Immediately afterwards, when Kirito gives him a small cut on the cheek with the Pain Absorber set to 0, Sugou has a minor FreakOut and [[MinorInjuryOverreaction whines over the pain]] like a child with a scraped knee. Made even more blatant in the original Japanese; Sugou [[UsefulNotes/JapanesePronouns uses the gentle-masculine "Boku"]] (normally used by little-boys) to refer to himself (instead of the coarse-masculine "Ore" or gender-neutral "watashi" expected of a grown-man), further accentuating that beneath his MaskOfSanity is a sinister SpoiledBrat.
* PutOnAPrisonBus: After his final battle with Kirito in the real world, Sugou is taken into police custody. He still appears through mentions.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: If all of his inhumane acts weren't enough, like hijacking all of the SAO captives and running experiments on their minds, just to show how much of an absolute bastard he is, he [[AttemptedRape tries to rape]] Asuna [[ForcedToWatch in front of Kirito]], after having stabbed him through the back with his own sword.
* {{Sadist}}: Not only does he meddle with the Pain Absorber to torture Kirito, Sugou goes so far as to pin him down and [[AttemptedRape sexually assault Asuna]] ''[[ForcedToWatch right in front of him]]'', just to make him suffer psychologically. He even takes the time to look right at Kirito, [[PsychoticSmirk smirk]], and ''laugh'' while doing so. He also seems to thrive on trying to be a HopeCrusher towards Asuna, and is ecstatic when Asuna attempts to reassure Kirito, saying nothing Sugou does will really hurt her.
-->'''Sugou''': I was hoping you'd say that. But I wonder how long your pride's going to last. Thirty minutes? An hour? Why don't we see how long you can ''[[SuddenlyShouting HANG ON TO IT?!]]''
* SatanicArchetype: If Kayaba is the equivalent of {{God}} and Kirito is the MessianicArchetype, then this makes Sugou the Devil, the personification of everything awful. He once worked for Kayaba, but was [[AlwaysSecondBest always his inferior]], however once given the chance Sugou seizes the world and its people, declaring himself [[AGodAmI its new god and ruler]]. However he's no match for the intervention of the ''real'' God, where Kayaba's VirtualGhost steps in to give Kirito the means to beat him. As Kirito puts it, Sugou is a "King of Thieves, sitting alone on [his] stolen throne." His LightIsNotGood theme only makes it all the more apparent.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: While he has a [[EvilSoundsDeep deep voice]] in the [[Creator/TakehitoKoyasu Japanese version]], Sugou nonetheless lets out a ''very'' high-pitched scream when Kirito chops his arm off in-game, and later when Kazuto nearly slits his throat in real-life.
* SexierAlterEgo: He seems to be going for this with the Oberon character, given it's long blond hair, fancy clothes, and [[TheGlassesGottaGo lack of glasses]]. His facial expressions and body language ruin the effect, though.
* ShutUpKirk: When Asuna expresses disgust at Sugou using the SAO survivors for mind control research and claims that such technology is illegal, Sugou retorts that several countries are researching mind control technology just as he is, with the only obstacle being human experimentation.
* SingleTargetSexuality: He's only stalkerishly obsessed with Asuna. In ''Accel World vs Sword Art Online'', while he does lewd other girls, once he lays eyes on Asuna he became fixated with her and her only, ignoring all of the other girls present.
* SissyVillain: Speaks in a florid, posh and effeminite manner, even using gentle-masculine "Boku" (normally used by boys) to refer to himself (instead of the coarse-masculine "Ore" or even the gender-neutral "watashi" expected of a grown man), further accentuating his immaturity, and his ALO avatar Oberon is a blonde LongHairedPrettyBoy.
* SlasherSmile: He gives [[http://i.imgur.com/fgXYZ.jpg a big, toothy one]] after chaining Asuna up.
* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: He kidnapped 300 SAO survivors and trapped them in ALO for the express purpose of performing inhumane MindControl experiments on him. He also makes the threat that if Asuna won't voluntary submit to him, then he'll simply brainwash her into loving him. He also intended to do this to Kirito to pry his mind for information.
* {{Slimeball}}: Unlike Kayaba, Sugou has no redeeming qualities and goes out of his way to be as despicable as possible. He's a SmugSnake, DirtyCoward, and CorruptCorporateExecutive who performs inhumane mind control experiments on 300 SAO survivors, thinks himself above everyone else, keeps Asuna prisoner in ALO to lord over her in a birdcage before trying to rape her outright while making Kirito watch, and lastly, makes an attempt on Kazuto's life IRL. Every moment he's on-screen seems devoted to making the audience cheer every time Kirito turns the tables on him.
* SmallNameBigEgo: He talks big, describing himself as an incredibly powerful man, to the point of [[AGodAmI claiming to be a god]] but is really the poor man's version of Akihiko Kayaba and after the latter's BigDamnHeroes moment in Alfheim, he [[VillainousBreakdown shows that he knows it too.]] Kirito even spells it out for him, telling him point-blank that he's nothing but a thief mooching off Kayaba's work:
-->'''Kirito''': You stole everything in this world. Everything! Including its people! You're nothing but a king of thieves, sitting alone on your stolen throne!
* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler:For the War of the Underworld subarc of the Alicization Arc. Sugou's spy in the Ocean Turtle leaks out the info of their tech and research, thus leading to the NSA going after it and hiring Glowgen Defense Systems to seize it, and thus causing the entire subarc]].
* SmugSnake: He constantly acts smug and arrogant, and tends to speak in a slick tone... but that's only because he has the powers of a GameMaster; the second the tables turn on him, he loses it and throws a temper tantrum.
* TheSociopath: He's a straighter example than Kayaba, wanting to [[PlayingWithSyringes perform inhumane mind control experiments on 300 SAO survivors]], whom he openly describes as "guinea pigs" rather than people, and making an incapacitated Kirito watch as he tries to rape Asuna without a flicker of remorse. Sugou also has a grandiose sense of self-worth, declaring himself a god and believing that he's entitled to have Asuna despite the fact that she can't stand him, and unlike Kayaba, he's a vicious {{sadist}} who [[CardCarryingVillain revels in his cruelty and evil]]. He's a high-functioning sociopath, hiding his true nature to Asuna's father by playing the part of a friendly, polite HonestCorporateExecutive.
* SpiritualAntithesis: To Jareth the Goblin King, played by Creator/DavidBowie in the 1980's classic ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', insomuch as the Oberon persona is a also a handsome blonde fairy king who holds absolute power over his kingdom that lusts after a beautiful and brave redheaded maiden. However, the similarities end right there, for whereas Jareth is a classy and dignified gentleman who rules his minions with a stern but fair hand, Sugou's Oberon is a depraved and crass tantrum prone manchild who abuses his power and rules with an iron fist. Also, while Jareth's love for the significantly younger Sarah '''is''' far from appropriate, he courts her with gentlemanly chivalry and charm, and ''genuinely'' loves and ''respects'' her enough to let her and her baby brother go when she conclusively refused his affections, leaving the story heartbroken but alive with his dignity intact. Oberon, in contrast, is a tasteless sexual deviant who regularly ''forces'' himself on Asuna against her wishes, and whose reign is ended by the sword of Asuna's husband Kirito's in bloody pieces.
* SpoiledBrat: It is likely that being a spoiled rotten "prince" of a ''Zaibatsu'' family since childhood, having what he wants when he wants removed Sugou's need to ''ever'' take responsibility for his actions, and hence destroyed his ability to empathize with the rest of humanity in adulthood. When he loses to Kirito, he outright whines and throws a temper tantrum over the fact that things aren't going his way.
* StalkerWithACrush:
** To Asuna. He [[PervertedSniffing sniffs her hair]] while she's [[DudeShesLikeInAComa in a coma]], traps her in ALO just to lord over her in a bird cage, constantly gropes and sniffs her, and finally licks her face and rips her clothes off before [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil trying to rape her outright]], all while stating that he's going to record the act and then molest her unconscious body while watching said recording.
** {{Implied}} to have been this towards Rinko during their school years, the Light Novel revealing that he tried to court her. Whether or not this was genuine attraction and [[GreenEyedMonster just wanting what was Kayaba's]] is never clarified.
* SuddenlyShouting: As Oberon, he often screams in the midst of talking.
* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: When Kirito overpowers him in real-life, his smug statement that other organizations would take him in and shelter him for his work is proven wrong; not only is he arrested and incarcerated for his crimes, but his actions result in a ''massive'' scandal against RECT Inc. that forces Shouzou, who [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter put Sugou in charge of the RECT Progress division in the first place]], to step down as CEO in shame. Adding to that, while it isn't explicitly mentioned, no company would ever take in Sugou anyway; RECT Inc. was ruined by the bad press and no company would ever trust anything he made after the ALO incident, no matter how impressive, because he proved he would trap and kill people for his amusement.
* TakeOverTheWorld: What he ultimately strives to do is perfect his mind control technology and assert himself as [[AGodAmI God of the world]].
* TearsOfFear: He's reduced to balling his eyes out in sheer terror when Kazuto nearly slits his throat IRL.
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Sugou is a power-hungry [[TheSociopath sociopath]] with a [[AGodAmI god complex]], and in real-life, looks like your average everyday guy in a business suit and glasses. Even Kirito didn't realize his true colors until Sugou [[PervertedSniffing sniffed Asuna's hair]] and gloated about their upcoming marriage.
* ThisCannotBe: His response when Kirito gains access to Kayaba's ID and GameMaster privileges, and uses them to strip Sugou of his own admin privileges.
-->'''Sugou''': An ID that outranks mine?! That's impossible! This is ''my'' world! ''I'm'' the creator! I'm its ruler! Its king! [[AGodAmI Its god!]]
* {{Trumplica}}: Like Maxwell Lord of ''Film/WonderWoman1984'' and bad-future Biff Tannen of ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'', Sugou is practically a parody of the younger 1980's era UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump, being a creepy and sexist CorruptCorporateExecutive with an overinflated sense of self-worth without an inch of modesty & humility, wrapped in a tacky over-expensive suit & {{Slimeball}} haircut. Even moreso in his Oberon persona, where he is a bombastic, tantrum throwing ''blonde'' autocrat who ''never'' takes responsibility for his own mistakes, abuses his authority & ruling his kingdom with an iron fist, not to mention taking delight in humiliating & dominating beautiful young women, mainly Asuna but implied to have also done so to countless female AI.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: He ''gravely'' underestimates Kirito, dismissing him as a "weak little boy" and believing he'll be too scared to enter ALO to save Asuna. This arrogance costs Sugou everything and results in him being locked up, his dreams and [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitions]] crushed and his body [[WoundThatWillNotHeal permanently damaged]]. This extends to real life, where he thinks wielding a knife will be enough to kill Kirito, only to have the boy turn the tides, steal his knife, and very nearly kill Sugou.
* UnskilledButStrong: He's pathetic combat-wise, but gets by throughout most of the Fairy Dance arc purely by [[KillerGameMaster abusing his admin privileges]] to give himself overpowered stats, equipment, and magic to fight Kirito with. Once he's stripped of his GameMaster status, Sugou proves to be no match for Kirito even with [[InfinityPlusOneSword the strongest weapon in ALO]], failing to land even a single hit before Kirito literally rips him to shreds.
* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: ALO is his own personal outlet for endulging in his sick fantasies, from [[AttemptedRape sexually assaulting Asuna]] to torturing Kirito.
* VilerNewVillain: Akihiko Kayaba was no saint, but he had his [[MoralSociopathy own moral code]] and [[FairPlayVillain stuck to it to the end]]. Sugou has none of Kayaba's AffablyEvil traits and is just an amoral, greedy, perverted {{Jerkass}} who commits such horrifying atrocities as trapping 300 SAO survivors for the sake of performing mind control experiments, trying to rape Asuna while making Kirito watch, and then trying to kill Kazuto IRL. And while Kayaba had VillainousValor, was a good fighter even without admin privileges, and ultimately [[GracefulLoser took his defeat well]], Sugou is a DirtyCoward who knows he doesn't stand a chance against Kirito without GameMaster powers and wimps out when the tables turn on him.
* VillainBall: When he has Kirito pinned down in ALO, rather than just finish him off and be done with it, Sugou decides to indulge his sadism by slowly decreasing the Pain Absorber to "give him something to look forward to", and then make him watch while he sexually assaults Asuna. This buys Kayaba's VirtualGhost time to save Kirito and grant him admin privileges, leading to the Pain Absorber being used against Sugou himself and Sugou being chopped up and left with permanent injuries IRL. Sugou had no way of foreseeing Kayaba's intervention, but deciding to torment Kirito before killing him was still a stupid move.
* VillainHasAPoint: Yes, Sugou is a total bastard, but he makes a valid point when he remarks to Asuna that Kayaba's [=FullDive=] technology had far more potential and uses than [[CutLexLuthorACheck simply making a video game]], and that Kayaba was foolish to not want more out of it. Indeed, Kayaba's tech has found other uses beyond game development, most notably with the Medicuboid and [[spoiler:the Soul Translator]][[note]]Of course, Sugou's argument is somewhat undermined when the ending of the Mother's Rosario arc reveals that Kayaba was actually the original designer of the Medicuboid, meaning he ''did'' in fact see the potential in his invention[[/note]].
-->'''Sugou''': Mr. Kayaba was a genius, but he was also a fool. All he wanted to use his technology for was his game. He couldn't see the potential in it. But ''I'' did.
* VillainousBreakdown: After Kirito foils his plans, Sugou loses all sense of gentlemanly restraint he'd shown throughout his appearances, even resorting to animalistic snarling when he tries to kill Kirito in real-life. Kirito [[WhatYouAreInTheDark just barely manages to stop himself from slitting Sugou's throat]] with his own knife, after which Sugou [[BringMyBrownPants wets himself]] and faints.
* VillainousCrush: His attempts at "courting" Asuna amount to putting her in a cage and threatening her memories. He also apparently had one on Rinko Koujiro, Kayaba's girlfriend.
* WhatTheHellHero: He gives a completely unjustified one to Kirito during his LastVillainStand, calling him out on torturing and killing him in ALO and telling him that what he did was cruel. Of course, Sugou [[{{Hypocrite}} has no room to talk]], considering that he himself tortured Kirito and tried to rape Asuna right in front of him on top of committing other horrifying atrocities.
* WheresTheFunInThat: He remarks to Asuna that he ''could'' alter her memories if he wanted to, but claims he won't because such an option wouldn't be fun.
-->'''Sugou''': If I wanted, I could alter your memories too. Don't worry, the last thing I'd ever want to do is turn you into a porcelain doll.
* WickedPretentious: Sugou may appear sophisticated to most, but those who've seen his true self know that he's a self-absorbed and arrogant psychopath who's nothing but a creepy PsychopathicManchild.
* WorfHadTheFlu: He comes pretty close to killing Kirito in the real world, but fails due to the [[EyeScream bad vision in his right eye]], causing him to miss with the killing blow and allowing Kirito to beat him.
* WoundThatWillNotHeal: Because Kirito inflicted grievous wounds on him with the pain absorber set 0, he experiences phantom pain in the real world and is blind in one eye. It can't be cured because there is physically nothing wrong with him.
* YourMindMakesItReal: When changing the Pain Absorber to torture Kirito, Sugou remarks that once it hits 3, any wounds he suffers in-game will affect his body in the real world. Once he gets Kayaba's admin privileges, Kirito turns the Pain Absorber off completely before chopping Sugou up, leaving him [[WoundThatWillNotHeal with permanent real-world injuries]].
* YoureNothingWithoutYourPhlebotinum: He only ever has the upper hand against Kirito by using his GameMaster powers to [[TheGMIsACheatingBastard give himself]] overpowered stats, equipment, and magic. When Kirito, granted admin privileges by Kayaba's VirtualGhost, revokes Sugou's own admin privileges and stripes him of said stats and gear, Sugou is cut down, [[AnArmAndALeg and]] [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe up]], in less than a minute. In his LastVillainStand, he attacks Kirito IRL expecting this to apply, only for Kirito to prove to be BroughtDownToBadass and beat him senseless.
-->'''Sugou''': You don't have any ''real'' power!\\
'''Kirito''': [[ShutUpHannibal And neither do you, Sugou!]]

[[folder:Scientist '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!!Yanai
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/YusukeNumata (Japanese), Chris Cason (English), Elliot Leguizamo (Latin American Spanish)

[[quoteright:310:[[labelnote:Click here to see his real appearance]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/unnamed_998.jpg]][[/labelnote]]

One of two scientists working for Sugou is his brainwashing and mind altering experiments. [[labelnote:Click here to see spoilers]]Later revealed to be Yanai, a double agent Sugou planted in Rath who took up work at the Ocean Turtle after Sugou's arrest.[[/labelnote]]

* AbhorrentAdmirer: Of Asuna, expressing envy that Nobuyuki Sugou gets her all to himself and attempting to sexually harass her. [[spoiler: He also later becomes one to Quinella, who [[ManipulativeBitch manipulates him to create the "Seal of the Right Eye" to keep the residents of the Underworld obedient to her Taboo Index]]]].
* AdaptationalDyeJob: His slug form is gray in the light novel, but purple in the anime.
* ApologeticAttacker: [[spoiler:Apologises to Higa for shooting him, claiming he didn’t mean to hit him]].
* AscendedExtra: He only appears in one scene in the ''Fairy Dance'' arc, [[spoiler: yet later appears as his real self as an obstacle to reviving Kirito]].
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler:He intially claims he wants to avenge Sugou. He also tries to prevent Kirito from being saved, due to being bitter over the boy being responsible for Quinella's death]].
* BigCreepyCrawlies: He and his fellow researcher take on the form of slug monsters with multiple tentacle appendages. Unlike his partner though, who appears to mainly see their extra arms as more effective tools for their work, [[PowerPerversionPotential he's quick to use the appendages as]] NaughtyTentacles [[PowerPerversionPotential to harass Asuna when they find her sneaking out]].
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler:He escapes punishment for his role in Sugou's crimes by throwing his coworker under the bus. During the confrontation with Higa, Yanai is the one who's visibly terrified, even though he has a gun and Higa is unarmed]].
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: A falling wrench causes him to fall to his death]].
* DrugsAreBad: His encounter with Asuna implies that he's a user of digital drugs, drugs usable via a VR device that create stimulation in brain activity with varying effects.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler: He's heavily {{Implied}} to be one of the four scientists who raised the original Fluctlights and imparted self-serving ideals onto them. This makes him responsible for quite possibly every horrible Noble encountered in the Underworld, like [[UpperClassTwit Raios and Humbert]], [[BigBad Quinella]], and [[TheCaligula Cruiga]]]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: [[spoiler: He initially claims to be [[AvengingTheVillain avenging Sugou]] in trying to prevent Kirito's revival, though he's {{Implied}} the guy who sold him out to begin with]].
* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: After receiving no comeuppance for him harassing Asuna in ''Fairy Dance'', [[spoiler: he finally got his comeuppance when he [[DisneyVillainDeath fell to his death]]]].
* LackOfEmpathy: For starters, he shows no regard to any of Sugou's test subjects while [[PlayingWithSyringes experimenting]] on them.
* MeaningfulName: His surname has the characters for 8, 7 and 1 in that order. It means he's [[spoiler:the source of the program that prevents the Fluctlights from violating the Taboo Index in the Human Empire. Ditto with the "Rule of the Strongest" in the Dark Territory. This proves he was Quinella's ally from the real world]].
* TheMole: [[spoiler:He's the spy in Rath, as well as one of Sugou's subordinates]].
* RevengeBeforeReason: [[spoiler: He probably would have got out alive if he had simply done the following: stayed put, kept his head down, and let Kirito be revived and Alice be extracted by Rath. However, his anger at Kirito for killing Quinella compels him to go with Higa so he can prevent him from reviving Kirito and revealing himself as TheMole. This puts him in a position to be killed by the mercenaries, [[HeKnowsTooMuch who are likely to do so to cover up US involvement]]. It also leads to his death after Rinko figures him out from the lab coat he left behind, heads to their position, and drops a wrench on him. This causes him to fall to his death]].
* {{Sadist}}: He clearly enjoys [[PlayingWithSyringes experimenting]] on Sugou's test subjects.
* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:While pretty messed up in ''Fairy Dance'', he is a lot more unstable when he returns in ''Alicization''. It's especially after Quinella dies]].
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Ohhh boy. [[spoiler:He was the [[TheMole spy]] implanted within Rath. He was the one who probably raised the original generation of Fluctlights who grew into corrupt nobles. He revealed the real world to Quinella. Also, he created the "CODE: 871" a.k.a. the "Seal of the Right Eye" that keeps the Underworld citizens complacent. This makes him responsible for nearly everything Kirito had to go through during the first half of ''Alicization'', and the suffering of other characters (like Eugeo)]].
* VillainousCrush: If him sexually harassing Asuna is anything go by. He also gets envious of Sugou having her all to himself and him attempting to sexually assault her.
* WalkingSpoiler: Since he's mostly a background character, it's impossible to discuss him without revealing that [[spoiler:he's the [[TheMole spy]] inside the Ocean Turtle]].

!!Death Gun
[[folder:"Death Gun" / Sterben]]
!!"Death Gun" / Sterben
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/SoichiroHoshi (Japanese), Creator/BenDiskin (English), Rafael Ordóñez Arrieta (European Spanish), Alfredo Gabriel Basurto (Latin American Spanish)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathgun.png]]

->''"Let your fear carve one name into your brains, the name I share with this weapon: Death Gun!"''

A mysterious gunman who showed up in Gun Gale Online, rumored to be able to kill someone in real-life from the virtual world. The antagonist of volumes 5-6.

[[labelnote:Click here to see spoilers]]Death Gun's true identity is not one but [[CollectiveIdentity three]] separate individuals. Former Laughing Coffin member [=XaXa=] / Shouichi Shinkawa, his younger brother Kyouji Shinkawa, and later another Laughing Coffin member Johnny Black / Atsushi Kanamoto. The group operated by having one of them use the Death Gun / Sterben avatar to kill someone in-game, while the other members would be beside the victim in real life and inject them with a poison to stop their heart.[[/labelnote]]

** To Kirito. [[spoiler: [=XaXa=]]] had a very personal conflict with Kirito for besting him back in SAO and deeming him too unimportant to find out his name. "Death Gun" is delighted at having [[{{Revenge}} another chance]] to even the score with Kirito, taking delight in the fact that Kirito can't remember his name, and that Kirito is now a shadow of his former self by mockingly referring to him as "Black Swordsman". While on Kirito's side, discovering "Death Gun" was an SAO survivor who he had history with opened a lot of emotional wounds that he had tried to shut out, including the guilt he carried over taking human lives. Kirito becomes hellbent on finding out the identity of Death Gun and putting a stop to him before he can take anymore lives. The fact that they are both SAO survivors who can't let go of their past, just makes Kirito all the more determined to prove he is better.
** To Sinon. The [[spoiler: Kyouji side of him was a StalkerWithACrush for Sinon]] and created the Death Gun myth through inspiration of the incident that traumatized Sinon, using the same gun she used to kill the bank robber. Sinon is one of Death Gun's key targets, while Sinon herself is determined to prove she isn't weak by overcoming him. It's even more prevalent in ''Fatal Bullet'' where Sinon actually has a score to settle with Death Gun, personally entering [=BoB=] in a bid to take Death Gun down and prevent the same gun from taking any more lives.
* ArcVillain: Of the ''Phantom Bullet'' arc, with his mysterious murders driving the plot and leading Kirito being called in to investigate him, while also serving as the main threat throughout the arc as he threatens the lives of Sinon and other [=BoB=] players.
* AxCrazy: Downplayed. He enjoys killing just as much as any other Laughing Coffin member, but for the most he demonstrates a lot of restraint and a [[SoftSpokenSadist calm collected attitude]].
* BadassBoast: After killing [=XeXeeD=], he introduces himself to the players of GGO.
-->'''Death Gun''': This is ''real'' power, ''real'' strength! Let your fear carve one name into your brains, the name I share with this weapon: '''''Death Gun'''''!
* BadassCape: Dons a tattered mantle that comes with a hood, which, in addition to the skull-like helmet, gives him a sinister vibe, akin to a GrimReaper.
* BadassNormal: Unlike other villains who were seriously overpowered, Death Gun is simply extremely skilled and very strategic. Yet, he manages to be a serious threat all on his own.
* BigBadDuumvirate: [[spoiler:Three people are playing the role. One plays, while the other two break into the homes of either well-known, or powerful players and administers the lethal injections.]]
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Borrows [=PoH=]'s "It's showtime" as part of a RedHerring to his real identity in order to throw Kirito off.
* CardCarryingVillain: He is proud of the fact he is a true red-player, one who kills for the satisfaction and not for survival like Kirito did.
* CastAsAMask: To hide the fact that [[spoiler:Kyouji]] was one of the members of Death Gun, while he's in-game he has a completely different voice actor.
* CatchPhrase: "The name I share with this weapon: Death Gun!"
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: When we first meet Death Gun, he comes off as rather loud and passionate, giving a ReasonYouSuckSpeech calling [=XeXeeD=] a fraud with false strength before killing him and intimidating the scared bar patrons, which makes his calmer demeanour when he encounters Kirito and during the [=BoB=] after [[spoiler: he kills Pale Rider and nearly kills Sinon]] rather odd. [[spoiler: This is because there are multiple players using the Avatar, with Kyouji being the one to use the Death Gun on [=XeXeeD=], who he resented as the one who instigated the AGI scam, whereas after we only see it used by his brother [=XaXa=], who's not only an older and more experienced SerialKiller, but also has no personal resentment towards Death Gun's victims, solely killing them ForTheEvulz.]]
* ColdHam: He doesn't shy away from {{Badass Boast}}s and [[EvilIsHammy reminding Kirito of how he holds all the aces]], but due to the CreepyMonotone from his CoolMask he never raises his voice while hamming it up.
* ColdSniper: During the [=BoB=] tournament, he shoots his targets with stun bullets from his "Silent Assassin" (a very rare and high-level sniper rifle according to Sinon) before moving in for the kill with his handgun.
* CollectiveIdentity: [[spoiler:There were three perpetrators. Two were SiblingsInCrime while the other was added later for their plot during the third Bullet of Bullets. Specifically, Kyouji Shinkawa/Spiegel created "Sterben", and bought the Optic Camo-cloak from a Real Money Trade, and a replacement for his Spiegel avatar, as it was poorly optimized due to [=XeXeeD=]'s false information.. His older brother Shouichi/"Red-Eyed" [=XaXa=], normally spied on players entering their real-world info in game at the Governors Palace using the Optic Camo Cloak to stay hidden, and administered the poisons on the first two victims, while Kyouji performed the choreographed act of shooting the victims in-game. Johnny Black joined in the crime to murder Garrett and Pale Rider, and Kyouji and [=XaXa=] switched roles for the Bullet of Bullets Tournament.]]
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: In contrast with the previous two, Death Gun is not a GMPC and used a code name different to his character name. His goals are also very different, whereas Kayaba was a VisionaryVillain who wanted to make a Virtual World real, and Sugou wanted to rule a Virtual World as its God and have Asuna for himself, Death Gun's goal is merely to [[SerialKiller kill in cold blood]] and [[MoralMyopia pass judgment on what he considers to be false strength]]. Thematically he averts the LightIsNotGood motif seen with Heathcliff and Oberon, instead embodying DarkIsEvil to contrast Kirito's DarkIsNotEvil. Finally, Death Gun is the first BigBad who is roughly on even ground with Kirito in fighting ability, by virtue that he's not a GM with broken admin privileges, as his power comes from skill with a sword, though of course that doesn't matter since the goal isn't to overpower Death Gun, but to find out his identity and stop him from killing Sinon.
* ContrivedCoincidence: His "Death Gun" is [[spoiler: the same exact model of gun Shino used to kill a bank robber years ago. She herself is stunned to see this.]] Subverted later; it's ''not'' a coincidence. [[spoiler: Death Gun's creator, Kyouji Shinkawa picked it specifically, as a "tribute" to Shino's "True Power". For Shino, it triggers her PTSD]].
* CoolMask: Wears one that resembles a mechanical skull whose eyes are [[RedEyesTakeWarning glowing red]], and vents out steam for extra creepy factor. [[spoiler: It's design {{Foreshadows}} his true identity as [=XaXa=].]]
* CoolSword: An estoc crafted from the armor plating of a starship.
* CrazyPrepared: He has decked himself out with lots of high level equipment to account for different scenarios, such as his InvisibilityCloak, his paralysis bullet, his hand crafted estoc, and of course [[spoiler:the muscle relaxant poison he uses to carry out his kills.]]
* CreepyMonotone: Due to his mask filtering out his voice, it appears almost completely drained of emotion. His icy tone gives a haunting quality to all his lines promising to kill someone.
* DarkIsEvil: Clad in black clothes and sneaks about in the shadows.
* DarthVaderClone: Clad in dark clothes, namely a BadassCape (complete with a [[InTheHood hood]]) and a CoolMask, "Death Gun" sports a VaderBreath as well as a CreepyMonotone voice, [[spoiler:and is related to Kirito by way of having faced him before in Aincrad as part of the Laughing Coffin guild]]. The fact he faces a boy wielding a LaserBlade drives the ''Franchise/StarWars'' homage even further.
* DeathByIrony: Death Gun's entire shtick is being able to fire a "Phantom Bullet" in-game that will kill players in real-life. Ultimately what is used to defeat him is a ''[[TitleDrop Phantom Bullet]]'' created by Sinon (one of his targets), using her sniper rifle's prediction line which distracts Death Gun for long enough and allow Kirito to finish him off.
* DecoyAntagonist: In ''Fatal Bullet'', [[NeverTrustATrailer promotional advertising]] made it look like Death Gun would be the BigBad of the game with him even headlining the opening sequence. In reality he is the secondary villain part of a BigBadEnsemble, only taking center stage during "Kirito Mode" which is the direct ''Phantom Bullet'' adaptation, which while important to the plot is ultimately not the main focus of the game.
* EvilCounterpart:
** To Kirito, for the [[spoiler: [=XaXa=]]] side of him. Both of them are SAO survivors who ended up in GGO and both of them wear [[DarkIsNotEvil dark]] [[DarkIsEvil colors]]. Both of them are MasterSwordsman and are still using swords despite being in a gun MMO, symbolic of how both are living in the past that is SAO. However, while Kirito tried shutting the traumatic past out, "Death Gun" embraced it and took pride in being a red player.
** To Sinon, with both being {{Cold Sniper}}s and both work in groups to engage in PlayerKilling. However otherwise they are polar opposites, with Sinon noting her PK Squadron have a degree of honor in fighting on the battlefield, while Death Gun's methods are nothing but cowardly murder. In addition, the [[spoiler: Kyouji side to him parallels Sinon in that both of them immersed themselves in Gun Gale Online out of a dissatisfaction in real life and seeking to grow stronger there. The contrast is that Sinon's goal was to use her time spent in GGO to improve her real life self in accordance, while Kyouji outright rejected reality and chose the virtual world as his new existence while his obsession with Sinon is LovingAShadow.]]
* EvilIsBigger: While this is largely due to Kirito's GGO avatar being shorter, Death Gun typically towers over both him and Sinon.
* EvilIsHammy: Whenever he invokes his presence, he ensures that his ham invokes fear in his opponents.
* EvilLaugh: Has a very creepy sinister chuckle which has a reverb effect.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Sports a deep, sinister, mechanical voice. Especially true with Creator/BenDiskin, where he's known to pull deep voices at times for some of his older characters.
* FairPlayVillain: Kirito believed Death Gun to be this, stating he had his own rules that he followed and he wouldn't try to kill any of his victims in real-life once it was made impossible in-game. This may be true for [[spoiler: [=XaXa=]]], but [[spoiler:Kyouji]] had no problem with [[spoiler:killing Sinon even after Death Gun's defeat.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: He has nothing for respect and praise for the ''old'' Kirito of SAO. Though he seems disgusted by how weak the present day Kirito of GGO is.
* ForcedToWatch: His EvilPlan is to incapacitate Kirito in battle and then force him to watch as he kills Sinon both in-game and in real-life.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The opening shows three shadows around Kirito, indicating there are [[BigBadDuumvirate three people]] in total behind his identity. Also, a shot of [[spoiler:Kyouji with his hand outstretched]] gets replaced with Death Gun.
** Death Gun wears a skull mask and uses an Estoc, [[spoiler: much like [=XaXa=] did back in SAO.]]
** His tournament name, Sterben, means "to die" in German. It is also a medical term used to pronounce the death of a patient in a hospital. His method of killing involves [[spoiler:his victim being injected with a lethal dose of drug in the real world the same time they were shot by him in GGO]]. This indicates that "Death Gun" might be [[spoiler:a doctor or someone with knowledge in the field of medicine]]. Similarly, [[spoiler:Spiegel's name is also German, being the word for "Mirror," implying a connection between the two.]]
* ForTheEvulz: One of the reasons "Death Gun" kills. [[spoiler:Two of the conspirators were members of Laughing Coffin and wanted to ''continue'' the death game that was SAO.]]
* FourIsDeath: [[spoiler: In the end, he kills a total of four players.]]
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Much like Oberon before him, Kirito slices Death Gun in half at the end of their duel.]]
* {{Handguns}}: Uses a Type 54 "Black Star"[[note]]Chinese knock-off of the Soviet Tokarev TT-33. The Black Star refers to the stamping mark on the grip[[/note]]in GGO.
* HeadBob: As his face is always obscured by his skull mask, his head bobs and tilts about with his speech to convey his emotion. In the climax, Sinon puts a prediction line on him, where he shows his surprise by flinching and his head turning to look down.
* HijackedByGanon: He's a new villain who turns out to be an avatar for [[spoiler: Shouichi Shinkawa, aka [=XaXa=]]].
* ImageSong: One, MAD BULLET"S".
* InvisibilityCloak: [[spoiler: He owns a mantle that has the "Metamaterial Optical Camouflage" ability. He can use it in the city AREA and hide from satellite scans during [=BoB=].]]
* IKnowYourTrueName: Is on both the giving end, and the receiving end of this. He notices Kirito's name in the Qualifiers and demands to know if he's the same one from SAO, or a fake using his name. Part of the plot during the actual tournament itself is when Kirito realizes that Death Gun's character is not actually named Death Gun, forcing him to figure out what his real character name is. [[spoiler:It's also an important plot point, when Kirito figures out it's a member of Laughing Coffin, and tries to recall who he is, as so the criminal can then be arrested. He pieces together the clues via Death Gun's mask, melee weapon, and fighting style, identifying him as ''Red-Eyed [=XaXa=]'' on International internet streams watching the events of the tournament, shocking [=XaXa=] and breaking his concentration.]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:Uses a crudely-made Estoc.]]
* KnightOfCerebus: While he's not the first ''Sword Art Online'' villain to be a complete creep with no redeeming qualities, unlike his predecessors [[TheDreaded he invokes fear in the characters and audience alike.]] He's also a constant threat that Kirito must fight against and escape from, rather than a villain who waits around to be found. Season 2 is a great deal more DarkerAndEdgier because of him.
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t9RdJtdpzE Has an ominous theme that accompanies his presence]].
* MachineMonotone: In the English dub, Death Gun speaks in a mechanically-distorted CreepyMonotone. In the Japanese Dub, when Kirito engages him in a final duel, [[spoiler:his voice changes from the deep-sounding adult male voice, into one sounding late teen/young adult male voice, further revealing his true identity. Specifically, its [=XaXa=]'s voice, just being filtered due to the mask, and using a voice changing filter to disguise his identity beforehand.]]
* MoodSwinger: At the start of the arc, Death Gun goes on a rant to the TV screen of [=XeXeeD=] about high level players being cheaters but is more calm and sinister in the Bullet of Bullets tournament. [[spoiler:Of course, it turns out to be foreshadowing to him being a CollectiveIdentity.]]
* MoralMyopia: He believes weakness is a crime. He passes judgement on a player's strength and if he deems them to be too weak or having ''false'' strength, then they must die. [[spoiler:On the other hand, he doesn’t seem to think of having his brother and old partner poison people on his behalf, while they’re helpless no less, as "false strength".]]
* TheMusketeer: His signature weapons are his eponymous "Death Gun", and a crudely built estoc made from warship armor plating, neither of which he uses at the same time, only using the latter against Kirito. {{Justified}} since [[spoiler: the pistol can only be used on players who his IRL accomplices can enter the homes of and poison, meaning that using it on anyone who doesn't meet these requirements and therefore wouldn't be killed would break the illusion.]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: As if his moniker as the "Death Gun" wasn't representative enough of the murders he started committing in GGO, [[spoiler:his [=BoB=] tournament entry name, "Sterben", is the German verb for "To die".]]
* NonindicativeName: His estoc is officially considered a knife in ''Gun Gale Online'', even though it's clearly long enough to be classified as a sword.
* NoPronunciationGuide: Several characters have had trouble pronouncing Death Gun's player name, Sterbern. Both Sinon and Kirito pronounced it as "Stee-burn", while Asuna thought it was a misspelled "Steven".
* NothingIsScarier: We know so little about him when he's introduced. Who is he? How does he kill players in real-life? How does he remain undetected throughout the game? When these answers slowly get revealed he becomes less threatening.
* OhCrap: He's got Kirito on the ropes with [[spoiler:an improvised estoc]]... then [[spoiler:Kirito realizes he's Red-Eyed [=XaXa=], and the Prediction Line from Sinon's Hecate appears on his center mass]]. His mask stops us from seeing his expression, but he promptly triggers his cloak's Metamaterial Optical Camouflage, so it's safe to assume this trope.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: "Death Gun" is the moniker he goes by and announces to the game. This is part of his cover, as player names are not displayed except as part of Satellite Scans, tournament standings, and when one has formed a Squad with others, as part of their HUD. [[spoiler:His character name is actually "Sterben".]]
* PrecisionFStrike: The otherwise collected and impersonal Death Gun calls Kirito's initial attack on him "half-assed" in the English dub.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: His helm features red eyes that glow and sometimes flash, [[spoiler: {{Foreshadowing}} his true identity as Red-Eyed [=XaXa=].]]
* RedHerring: [[spoiler:Although he reveals himself as being a Laughing Coffin member, he starts throwing multiple false clues common of other LC members. One of which is saying [=PoH's=] trademark line of "It's show time."]]
* {{Revenge}}: Another reason why "Death Gun" kills. [[spoiler:Two of the perpetrators are former Laughing Coffin members, and they are elated when they get the chance to torment Kirito in ''Gun Gale Online''. The third blamed the high level players for recommending a character build that eventually got nerfed, leaving him unable to compete in the [=BoB=] tournament for his subscription fee.]]
* RichKids: [[spoiler:Shouichi/[=XaXa=] paid a lot of money to kit out Sterben with the sniper rifle and optic camo cloak via the RealMoneyTrade system in GGO. The cloak alone has an estimated value of 300,000 Yen[[note]]$2504.07 U.S. Dollars as of May 2015[[/note]], and rare sniper rifles go for quite a lot. Shouichi is said to have a monthly allowance, of 500,000 yen, and the Shinkawa brothers parents are doctors.]]
* SerialKiller: The ''Gun Gale Online'' arc has Kirito investigate on this enigmatic character who is rumored to be able to kill players both in the game and in the real world. Two known victims were among GGO's top players.
* SiblingsInCrime: [[spoiler:The original two members of the team. The eldest was a former SAO player who was part of the red guild "Laughing Coffin"; he was the one who collected info on where their targets lived, was the one who injected [=XeXeeD=] and Usujio Tarako with Succinycholine in the real world, and is the one who shot the avatars of Pale Rider and Garret in GGO during [=BoB=]. The youngest was the one who shot the avatars of [=XeXeeD=] and Usujio Tarako in GGO, and during [=BoB=] he was meant to break into Shino's home and inject her with a dose of Succinylcholine with a needless syringe. Both were children of a doctor and had access to the funds and equipment needed to pull it off.]]
* SimpleYetAwesome: During his final duel with Kirito, [[spoiler:he uses a player-made Estoc. Because of the limitations of GGO's Gun/Sword Creation skill, his weapon is '''statistically''' weaker than Kirito's; however, it's much better suited to [=XaXa=]'s fighting style than a Photon Sword is to Kirito's, giving him an edge.]]
* SinisterShiv: His estoc is essentially this, being a strip of starship metal that he fashioned into a sword (or, according to ''Gun Gale Online'', a long dagger).
* SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat: Death Gun actually averts this in terms of threat level, being far less powerful than his predecessors since he's not a GM with admin privileges. In battle he's mostly evenly matched with Kirito, with his power coming from his skill and the equipment that he bought. However he makes up what he lacks in raw power by being [[KnightOfCerebus genuinely terrifying]] compared to his predecessors, and has the edge in that the heroes [[NothingIsScarier don't know how he operates]] so still [[SlidingScaleOfVillainEffectiveness making him quite efficient]].
* CoolGuns/SniperRifles: His rifle of choice is the [=L115A3=], the British Army designation for the Arctic Warfare Super Magnum sniper rifle. His particular rifle is unique in that it has a custom integrally suppressed barrel akin to the [=AWS=] variant. This is what gives it its unique "Silent Assassin" moniker in-game.
* StealthHiBye: [[spoiler: By virtue of having an InvisibilityCloak, he can quickly appear and disappear at will.]]
* StrongAndSkilled: Like Kirito he has the swordsmanship skills from his times in SAO, but overall he's equipped with much better gear due to [[spoiler:Shouichi]] paying an extensive amount of money to fit him with the best, as well as making a crudely-built estoc, which is much more suited to his style than Kirito's Photon Sword.
* TattooedCrook: Amidst the bandages on his right arm, a small tattoo can be made out. [[spoiler:It's the same mark as the members of Laughing Coffin, and Kirito subsequently has a HeroicBSOD when he sees it.]]
* TomTheDarkLord: {{Subverted}}. Due to a lack of fluency in English, Sinon and Kirito initially assume that his username is pronounced "Steven", which is a fairly average English name. However, it's later revealed that it's pronounced "Sterben", which is a German phrase used in Hospitals meaning "to die".
* {{Troll}}: For a large portion of the arc, Death Gun would [[EvilGloating taunt Kirito]] on not being able to remember his name, guilting Kirito into thinking he had forgotten. In reality Kirito didn't forget at all, it was just that Death Gun never directly told his real name. [[spoiler: However, Kirito was indirectly told his name during a briefing and is able to finally remember Death Gun's name as "Red-Eyed [=XaXa=]" from his red eyes.]]
* VaderBreath: When talking, a distinctive wheeze can be sporadically heard around "Death Gun". In fact he sometimes blows out steam from his visor.
* WalkingSpoiler: The character known as "Death Gun" is actually [[spoiler:an entity created by three people, two of which are SAO survivors of the PlayerKilling variety, to carry out murders both in GGO and the real-life near-simultaneously]], making its importance to the overall series' story that much more vital.
* WolverinePublicity: One of the most popular villains of ''Sword Art Online''. Trailers for ''Fatal Bullet'' made sure to show him off, even though [[AdvertisedExtra he's not that prominent in the actual game]].

!!Axiom Church Leadership
[[folder:Quinella]]
!!Quinella
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/MaayaSakamoto (Japanese), Creator/MaureenPrice (English)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quinella_0.png]]
--> "''To love is to control. I love everything. I rule everything.''"

The Administrator of Underworld and high minister of Axiom Church. She is responsible for corrupting the government from behind the scenes, disposing of those who oppose her. The antagonist of volumes 9-14.

* AccidentalMurder: Her implementation of the Taboo Index has caused incidents like this. One such example is when Rath caused a plague in the Underworld in hopes of forcing the people to break the laws so they can try to minimize possible deaths. However, the people's absolute adherence to the Index and it's rules against killing and stealing led [[SuicidalPacifism to them not doing anything about it]], leading to devastating casualties that could have been avoided.
* AccidentalTruth: When she gave Scheta the [[AbsurdlySharpBlade Black Lily Sword]], she encouraged her to cling to her murderous impulses and obsession with cutting, claiming that she'll find a way to break out of it as a result. Knowing Quinella, [[ManipulativeBastard this is definitely an attempt at manipulating her into being an effective attack dog]], [[spoiler: But Scheta ''does'' end up finding a way out of her obsession, since it leads to her taking part in the War of Underworld and meeting Iskahn, who she falls in love with when he proves capable of resisting her slashes and soon realizes that in spite of her obsession, she doesn't ''want'' to kill or cut him.]]
* ActorAllusion: This wouldn't be the first time Creator/MaayaSakamoto [[Franchise/DotHack voiced a video game AI that had seemingly infinite powers (and even resided in a cathedral)]] However, unlike Quinella, Aura shows herself to be a BenevolentAI who cares for the well-being of the players playing the game.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Her hair and eyes were described in the novels as [[WhiteHairBlackHeart silver with a platinum-like sheen]]. In all animated and illustrated media ever since, it's purple, with no noticeable luster.
* AdaptationalModesty: In the game, she wears her dress for the entire final battle ''intact'' against Kirito, instead of going into her FullFrontalAssault territory that she's better known for.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy:
** Downplayed. While her crimes are mostly the same in the anime adaptation, there are a few more scenes added in that make her overall more sympathetic. For one, [[spoiler:her spirit lingers after her death and being proud of the empire that she created. Then after Bercouli's death, her spirit appears before him, showing awareness of her vileness and even some regret over her actions, while both are happy to reunite and are TogetherInDeath.]]
** Gets this treatment in the [[AlternateTimeline Cake Timeline]]. While she still gives off the impression of a {{Sociopath}}ic tyrant with the GodComplex who effectively sees her subjects as objects she can use and abuse as she pleases, there are moments where she's merciful and even warm, something Kirito and Eugeo pick up in her interactions with her riding dragon, and she appears more willing to actually negotiate with Cardinal than kill her outright after being convinced by the two new Integrity Knights. This actually appears to be a plot-point, as Charlotte feels compelled to report this behavior to Cardinal.
* TheAgeless: [[spoiler:Her original effort to take over the Cardinal system of UW resulted in her fusing with it, granting her eternal youth [[TheNeedless and the removal of the need to eat and drink]]. However, she wasn't satisfied with just that]].
* AllClothUnravels: It takes only a tug of a knot on her nightgown to strip completely naked in front of Eugeo. Knowing [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl her]], this could be intentional.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Her right arm was severed when Eugeo (in sword form) clashed with Quinella's blade. She subsequently transmutes said arm into another sword to kill Kirito with. And even that other arm is lopped off in battle later on when the two stab each other in such a way Quinella is also able to take one of Kirito's arms in exchange.]] [[SubvertedTrope Subverted in ''Lycoris'', where she and Kirito both apparently end the duel with all of their arms intact.]]
* ArchEnemy:
** To Cardinal. Being her antithesis, Cardinal exists for the sole reason of ending Quinella. The two have spent centuries battling and attempting to thwart one another. Quinella wanting nothing more than to hunt Cardinal down and kill her, while Cardinal wants to put an end to Quinella's reign and reclaim Administrator powers. [[spoiler:Quinella has utter glee when she finally gets the chance to kill Cardinal and makes sure to enjoy every second of it.]]
** To Kirito, with both eventually coming to see each other as this. Kirito discovers that Quinella is the one responsible for everything bad that happened to him in the Underworld, and dedicates his efforts to bringing her down, while ensuring that others who were once fiercely loyal to the Pontifex see her for the vile being she is. This becomes especially the case when Quinella [[spoiler:kills Eugeo]], earning her a place among Kirito's most hated enemies of all time. While Quinella originally saw Kirito as nothing but an insignificant bug who dared to defy her and waiting to be crushed, she attains special hatred for him when she finds out he's ''special'', being from the ''other side'' of the outside world. Kirito giving Quinella a reality check in reminding her there are true gods on the outside infuriates her, and her hatred for Kirito only grows when he continues to resist her, being the last one standing. Worth noting is, even among the others who resisted her, Quinella at least is able to show [[FauxAffablyEvil a twisted form of affection]] such as to Alice, Eugeo, and even Cardinal, whereas she never once gives this treatment to Kirito and derogatorily refers to him as "boy".
** To Eugeo. While his hatred was initially aimed towards the Axiom Church itself, later it gets centered on Quinella since she is the one responsible for everything. It becomes very personal after she subjects Eugeo to MindRape and make him susceptible to Synthesis, before later when he breaks free revealing she put [[ColdBloodedTorture forced Synthesis on Alice]]. Eugeo later decides that it is his purpose to bring Quinella down [[spoiler:due to wishing to atone for his actions and [[HeroicSacrifice gives up his life]] to ensure it happens.]]
** To Alice. While originally Alice was fiercely loyal to the Pontifex and the Axiom Church, Kirito's influence began to cast more and more doubt upon her, and she uncovered more about the truth on Quinella's corruption. It reached the point where Alice openly abandoned her duties as an Integrity Knight and chose to oppose her former master. While her hatred for Quinella isn't quite as intense as Kirito and Eugeo's due to her conflicting loyalty, she still very much despises the Pontifex. Though this sentiment isn't quite as much shared on Quinella's side who views Alice's rebelling as an inconvenience and still sees her as an adequate doll that can be reprogrammed to do her bidding.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Her personality aside, there's something to be said for her skills. [[spoiler:She was the first UW resident to figure out how to create offensive skills, restore her life, overturn the Cardinal System, copy her Fluctlight onto others, and forcibly alter the Fluctlights of others into her personal Servants... all because she spent a large amount of time just analyzing how the Sacred Arts of the Underworld worked.]]
* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: The plot of ''Alicization Lycoris'' is set in motion by Kirito's decision to use the Night Sky Sword to kill Quinella ending up [[GoneHorriblyWrong backfiring]] hard on him and the others. It allowed Quinella to take advantage of the sword's ability to absorb resources from the Gigas Cedar Tree to turn herself into a gigantic tree and plant seeds to bring back monsters and beings with Fluctlights BackFromTheDead, connecting her own will with the Main Visualizer to make the entire thing happen.]]
* BadBoss: It's repeatedly shown that she views the Senators and Integrity Knights as more like tools than people.
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: She is shown to enjoy killing animals in her childhood to level herself up.
* BarrierChangeBoss: As a boss in ''Rising Steel'', she makes use of barrier moves in each fight that nullifies damage from either physical attacks in her first and magic attacks in the second. As the FinalBoss, she alternates between the two.
* BathingBeauty: Her Full Limit Break art and profile description as [Eternal Beauty] Quinella in ''Rising Steel'' depicts her enjoying a bath.
--> ''Eternal beauty... how boring. Listening to the sounds of water drops falling, she finally can relax and wash all these thoughts away. Cracks of light illuminated on her skin while her wet hair accentuated her undeniable beauty. She stretched out her elegant legs from the snow white bathtub as the fragrance of flowers wrapped itself around her aura. Through the thin screen of steam, her allure entices''
* BeautyIsBad: The [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Underworld's Most Beautiful Woman]], and a [[ItsAllAboutMe self-centered]] {{Sociopath}} with a {{Sadist}}ic streak and has no qualms with manipulating and [[MindRape Mind Raping]] anyone to suit her own ends.
* BigBad: For the first half of ''Alicization'', she is the head villain, being the leader of the Axion Church and thus the world itself. She is responsible for Alice's arrest, the corruption in the nobility, the lack of preparation the Human Empire has for the Final Stress Test, and the later revelation of the even more sinister plot of converting the Human Empire into Sword Golems to battle the Dark Territory.
* BlatantLies: She swears to the Goddess Stacia that if Chudelkin helps defeat her enemies, she'll let him do whatever he wants with her body for one night. While Chudelkin can't fathom the idea of lying, Kirito knows that Quinella doesn't believe in Stacia, so her oath means nothing. Cardinal is smart enough to see through this, and insists that Quinella swear by the one thing that matters to her -- her own Fluctlight.
* BlowYouAway: Blasted Eugeo aside using a gust of wind after thwarting his assassination attempt.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:Her skin starts cracking when she's near death after Kirito stabbed her.]]
* BodySurf: First started doing this [[spoiler:once she realized that her current body could no longer contain all her memories and needing a new body to store her new experiences]], but as time went on it became about [[spoiler:attaining complete immortality.]]
* BoobsOfSteel: Presumably as part of being the [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Underworld's Most Beautiful Woman]], Quinella has a considerable bust and, despite the fact that she spends most of her time sleeping, she is the most powerful Sacred Arts user of her time and has basically memorized every possible sword skill and technique, making her quite possibly the most powerful being short of a PhysicalGod and allows her to give Kirito one of the toughest fights of his life.
* BreakoutVillain: Subverted. While she doesn't get to return to the series after her defeat, the anime does seem to acknowledge her popularity by not only giving her additional scenes but ones that depict her in a redeeming light.
** [[spoiler:After her initial defeat the anime adds a scene that shows her spirit getting to proudly observe the empire she created one last time as she passes on.]]
** [[spoiler:In ''War of the Underworld'', her spirit returns after Bercouli is killed in combat and the two are reunited TogetherInDeath.]]
* CastingAShadow: Generated a ball of darkness using the Umbral Element Sacred Arts, and can have ''Silvery Eternity'' fire bolts of ''dark lightning''.
* ClothingDamage: After Eugeo [[spoiler:breaks free from her brainwashing and]] attacks her, her nightgown is left shredded, with it losing losing it's durability and disappearing soon after.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: She's the first BigBad who is a female and isn't a human from the real world, a sharp contrast with her predecessors. She's also the first villain who isn't an obvious EvilCounterpart to Kirito, instead paralleling Alice. She's also the first who had her fall to villainy and ascension to power told in great detail, rather than being presented as just another bad guy straight from the get-go.
* ControlFreak: Quinella is a corrupt, narcissistic and callous psychopath [[spoiler:who is not above killing, torturing, and brainwashing anyone to keep UW for herself]], though her methods of doing so are different from the standard. [[spoiler:She spends most of her time asleep in order to preserve precious memory space, but the laws she placed over the land and its people might as well be God-given edicts to follow consciously or subconsciously [[RealityWarper given her authority]] and are enforced by her Integrity Knights]]. In the backstory, [[spoiler:while she fused with the Cardinal System to regulate UW, her original intention was to outright ''steal'' its powers and authority for herself.]]
* CorruptChurch: She is the Pontifex of the Axiom Church, which is the leading authority in the human empire, but is more akin to a tyrant that rules the land with an iron fist while painting the allusion she's a benevolent ruler and emmisary of the gods.
* TheCorrupter: Quinella preys on Eugeo's emotions and his desire to be loved, twisting his memories and breaking him, before turning him into her own loyal servant.
* DarkActionGirl: Being female does not stop her from being gifted at sword fighting.
* DarkMessiah: [[BitchInSheepsClothing Preaches herself as the will of God and the savior of humanity]], when in reality she governed the human realm with an iron fist and is concerned with nothing but self-preservation.
* DeathByIrony: Quinella, a ControlFreak who manipulated and brainwashed people into having UndyingLoyalty to her, [[spoiler: is burned alive by Chudelkin, quite possibly her most obsessive follower.]]
* DeathEqualsRedemption: {{Implied}}. [[spoiler: While the spirit of her Bercouli meets when he dies is stated to be the version of her that exists in his Fluctlight, and in turn is more benevolent than she actually was, what’s hinted to be her actual spirit appears to cheer Kirito on when he fights Gabriel.]]
* DirtyCoward: Despite being more competent and attractive than Sugou, she's very rotten to the core and the reason why she's a ControlFreak in the first place is because [[spoiler:she fears losing power and influence to the people of UW.]]
* DidntSeeThatComing:
** Her biggest undoing is failing to anticipate that Kirito and Eugeo's swords are not made from metal, which she has not made herself impervious to.
** [[spoiler:Nor Chudelkin barely surviving his injuries and ruining her getaway, killing her in the process.]]
** [[spoiler:She also got one in the Gameverse, [[OhCrap when she realized]] that the blade that Kirito wielded (which originally belonged to Medina and the blade was fused with her Fluctlight) is revealed to be a divine object made out of an actual human's flesh and blood, meaning it had the capability to use Armament Full Control as well. Plus, since it's revealed that Medina's bloodline is actually the [[LivingMacguffin the key to create the gate to the real world]] the blade had a [[RealityWarper reality bending power]] as well, which ultimately led to her downfall.]]
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Surprisingly PlayedForLaughs in the ''If You Were Here'' timeline. After Kirito reveals that he knows about the Synthesis Ritual and tries arguing for why she shouldn't perform it on him and Eugeo by noting how tedious the process of doing the ritual then [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind wiping]] the people they interacted with would be, she ends up ''whining'' about how much of a "[[PrecisionFStrike pain in the ass]]" the whole thing is and admits that the only reason she still does it is because she's done it so many times with the same "Summoned from the Celestial Realm" story that revealing the truth to her Knights would effectively screw her over.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: Serves as the BigBad of the first half of ''Alicization'' before Gabriel takes over.
* DoesNotLikeShoes: Since her adult life, she wears just ankle wraps. She retains those even when naked.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: [[spoiler:Her forced synthesis of Eugeo looks ''very'' suspiciously like she's seducing him... [[http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/File:Vol_13_-_197.png or past that point already]] and gone to full-on sex.]]
* DoWrongRight: In "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", one of her issues with Rath trying to use two different "natural" disasters to kill off some Fluctlights and possibly spur the survivors into fighting for food is that she saw it as "uninspired".
* DracoInLeatherPants: InUniverse: [[spoiler:After he dies, Bercouli happens to meet Quinella's ghost, or more accurately the version of her that existed in his Fluctlight before he learned of her true nature and as a result is a much kinder and warmer individual to reflect how he saw her beforehand, with the two of them treating each other like old friends as they pass on.]]
* DragonRider: Like her Integrity Knights, Quinella has a personal riding dragon who she has dubbed Yukiori and is apparently the oldest and strongest of the dragons the Knights use. Like its master, it appears to spend most of it's time asleep.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:After fusing with Cardinal, the sub-process within it deemed Quinella "an error" due to her intentional direct manipulation of the UW residents and, in times of emotional distress, took control of her with the intent of making her kill herself. After several failed attempts due to Quinella taking back control at the last second, she only stopped this by forcibly sealing her emotions away.]]
* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: While already quite corrupt, Quinella becomes increasingly vile the more power she attains. [[spoiler:''Rising Steel'' implies that while she started as an earnest and sweet girl despite being Nobility, being given a Calling dedicated to advancing the Sacred Arts and making great deals of progress, being able to weaponize it and make weather predictions, followed by her village believing her to be a goddess as a result, was her StartOfDarkness.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Her first scene has her waking up in bed while completely nude, showing that she has no problem showing off her sexuality.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** In her own warped, twisted way, she did seem to care about the Underworld as the world she created. [[spoiler: This could be why her spirit appears to support Kirito during his fight against Subtilizer, seeing as the [[OmnicidalManiac latter plans to destroy the Underworld.]]]]
** The Cake timeline also depicts her as close with Yukiori, her own personal riding dragon, with Kirito even describing her as looking like a normal girl when seeing her interact with them.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Even she is sick of Chudelkin's shenanigans and often tells him off when he's being rude to the Integrity Knights or going over the top in smothering her with praise. It's a wonder why she even keeps him around.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Quinella has no understanding of what love really is. To her, love is just desire, something that can be acquired through an exchange, and a means of controlling people.
* EvilCounterpart: To Alice. Like Quinella, Alice was very talented in the Sacred Arts. One of Alice's most well-known abilities was to predict a storm one week in advance at a rather young age, while Quinella was also able to predict the weather in advance, though only 3 days in advance. A notable difference between the two is that Quinella was born in a noble family in the capital, while Alice was born in a family of villagers in one of the most remote villages in the Human Empire. It's implied Alice might have walked down a similar path to Quinella had Eugeo and Kirito not been in her life from near the start.
* EvilGenius: Quinella is an esteemed prodigy and the greatest Sacred Arts user seen in the Underworld. She managed to invent many rituals herself, as well as discovering every System Command in that existed in the Underworld.
* EvilIsPetty: Brainwashing and forcing immortality on skilled swordsmen and criminals so that they can enforce her control is one thing, but learning she did the same to some seemingly random girl with a knack for Wind Sacred Arts just so she can have someone to ''[[MundaneUtility operate an elevator]]'' is where you truly realize how low her opinion of the Underworld's residents is.
* EvilIsSexy: She's widely known as the most beautiful woman in the Underworld. She knows she's attractive and uses her beauty and sexuality to her advantage by seducing others.
* EvilLaugh: While she usually remains calm and composed, when she really gets in the moment then she can let off some unhinged cackles.
* EvilVersusOblivion: The Anime hints that this [[spoiler: is why her ghost supports Kirito during his fight with Gabriel, since she, [[ControlFreak for]] [[ManipulativeBitch all]] [[MindRape her]] [[LackOfEmpathy faults]], [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes did care for the Underworld in her own twisted way]], whereas [[OmnicidalManiac Gabriel]] was planning to destroy it and turn it into his personal world where he's God and can manipulate the souls he sees fit.]]
* ExactWords:
** [[spoiler:When Chudelkin requests that he have a night with access to her body in exchange for taking out the rebels, she agrees and swears to Stacia. The thing is, not only does she not believe in Stacia, but she's the one who made her up to begin with, meaning she effectively gave him an empty promise.]]
** The reason she gives for putting Renly into stasis is that he was "defective". While his trauma-induced inability to fight could be what she meant, and is likely what Renly thought she meant, ''Rising Steel'' gives these words another potential meaning; When Renly was synthesized, Quinella was shocked when he asked if there was supposed to be someone with him, referring to his BestFriend who he promised to become an Integrity Knight alongside only [[AccidentalMurder to accidentally kill him during the Four Empires Unity Tournament]]. This tipped her off to the possibility that his memories weren't completely blocked and that the Synthesis Ritual has some issues she needs to fix, giving her reason to Deep Freeze him in case he [[HeKnowsTooMuch remembered everything on his own and blabbed to the other Knights]], with his inability to master the Twin-Edged Wings being a convenient excuse.
* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:In the anime, [[VillainousBreakdown despite her horror at realizing she's going to die]], she calms down when she sees a vision of the empire and world she always sought to build and manages to find peace with it before exploding, while [[GoOutWithASmile smiling]], no less.]]
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Quinella has an angelic theme to her design. Her light purples and whites give off a generally non-threatening look, and at a glance, one would be forgiven for thinking she were a heroine rather than a villain. Quinella is perfectly aware of her "innocent" appearance, and uses it to mask her true nature as she manipulates others.
* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler:Had she bothered to check and make sure Chudelkin was actually dead (by nature of DisappearingIntoLight, like Cardinal), he wouldn't have been alive to ruin her getaway attempt and kill her.]]
* FanDisservice: Sure, she has [[MsFanservice an extremely attractive body]] ([[ShamelessFanserviceGirl that she has no qualms about showing off]]), but the way she smoothly seduces Eugeo (along with some of her other seductress-esque behaviors) is rather uncomfortable to watch. [[spoiler: Then there's her losing both her arms and getting a TorsoWithAView after [[FullFrontalAssault dueling Kirito in the buff]], with visible cracks all over her body.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: She maintains an air of formality towards her enemies, despite seeing everyone as nothing but fodder for turning into sword golems. When [[spoiler:turning Eugeo into an Integrity Knight]], she showers him with false affection in order to make him remove his core protection. She only drops the facade when encountering setbacks such as [[spoiler:Cardinal fusing Eugeo with his sword]] or Kirito cutting her remaining arm off.
* FinalExamBoss: With her access to the system as Administrator, Quinella knows every fighting style and system call art in the Underworld and how to exploit them, as well as copying the Aincrad Style from [[spoiler: Eugeo's memories]]. It takes [[spoiler: Eugeo's HeroicSacrifice to give Kirito a second sword for his signature dual-wielding style and a HeroicSecondWind]] to even the odds, and even ''then'' she still gives him a solid challenge with only a single arm.
* {{Foil}}: To Sugou, being a more competent DistaffCounterpart to him. Parallels can be seen in that they are both raised as privileged people who grew to be corrupt and made and declared themselves the [[AGodAmI gods of a world]]. They both also perform [[MadScientist awful experiments on innocents]] and have very twisted understanding of love. Kirito also calls both of them out for being false rulers with a GodGuise. However their difference lie in that Sugou is an AbhorrentAdmirer who feels [[EntitledToHaveYou entitled to have Asuna]], while Quinella loves no one but herself and only wishes for everyone to server her. In addition while both perform [[MindRape experiments on victims' minds]], Sugou states he does not want to tamper with Asuna's mind except as a final resort due to wanting to turn her into a doll, while Quinella effectively made all of her Integrity Knights into her dolls and outright refers to them as that.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: [[spoiler:Once, she was a simple resident (a noble, yes, but still something not too impressive in the grand scheme of things) of UW that discovered several key facts about the world, such as how to perform offensive commands and that killing things would increase her stats. Developing these powers further throughout her life, she eventually discovered how to raise her Authority to the level of Cardinal itself on her deathbed, making herself a PhysicalGod in the process. [[AmbitionIsEvil Not content with sharing power]], however, she tried to steal Cardinal's powers for herself but only succeeding in [[FusionDance fusing with it]] to gain its functions of regulating the world, but even then she went [[ControlFreak much further than Cardinal intended]].]]
* FullFrontalAssault: She has no problems fighting without any clothes on, as Kirito and Alice found out.
* GainingTheWillToKill: In her backstory [[spoiler:she was among the first residents to realize that she could create offensive commands for the purpose of fighting and killing other things...and then realizing that doing so made her stronger with each kill...]]
* {{Gaslighting}}: [[spoiler:She twists Eugeo's perception of his feelings and even his own memories to make him believe he's a lonely and forsaken individual that only she herself could "save". She also wipes her Integrity Knights' memories after a century or so to make them forget grievances.]]
* AGodAmI: After attaining the powers of the Cardinal System, she declares herself the Administrator of Underworld, which Cardinal considers the most arrogant name possible.
* GodivaHair: The only thing hiding her lady bits whenever she's naked is her long hair, along with some rare [[SceneryCensor strategic object placement]].
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:In the anime, just as she's dying, she sees one last vision of the empire she once controlled, looking at it with pride before she's gone for good.]]
* GratuitousEnglish: Being well versed in System Commands and their meanings, she often spouts English words midspeech.
* HandicappedBadass: [[spoiler:Despite losing an arm, she still has sword skills from both the Underworld and Aincrad, allowing her to overwhelm Kirito until he dual wields his own sword and Eugeo's.]]
* HeavySleeper: She spends the majority of her days in her chambers asleep. Justified, as it allows her to preserve as much memory space in her Fluctlight (and by extension, her lifespan) as possible.
* HeroKiller:
** [[spoiler:Not only did she turn Eugeo into her lackey, but she also killed him. One might also consider Charlotte's death given how it was her Golem, or Cardinal, since she fried her with energy blasts, before the latter used the last of her strength to empower Eugeo before his eventual demise.]]
** [[spoiler: In ''Lycoris'' she killed Medina instead, though in reality this was part of Medina's BatmanGambit to kill Quinella, so Quinella unknowingly [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard doomed herself instead.]]]]
* HeyYou: She always calls Kirito "boy," as a reference to his coming from another world.
* HumanShield: [[spoiler:Quinella's Sword Golems are not only effective killing machines which [[TheJuggernaut never stop fighting for all eternity]], driven by the emotion of love that got twisted into blind instinct, but the fact that they were once humans means that Cardinal cannot bring herself to attack them.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", she's quick to realise that Rath caused the recent volcanic eruption and storm to spur the Fluctlights there into breaking the Taboo Index, and bemoans their cruelty after fixing the issue herself. While [[HypocriteHasAPoint not wrong of her assessment of Rath]], she has little room to call them out seeing as she sees every other Artifical Fluctlight as little more than dolls or bugs for her to toy with, and is not above subjecting them to experiments for her own research endeavours.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: Played with. She actually did age normally all the way to the end of her natural lifespan, but she was able to restore her youth just in time and then granted herself immortality, forever preserving her with the appearance of a twenty something woman.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Stabbed in the heart by Kirito during their duel - which lands a critical blow. [[NotQuiteDead It doesn't kill her though]], since she had a sliver of health left - enough to make a last-ditch escape attempt.]]
* ImprovisedWeapon: [[spoiler:After ''Silvery Eternity'' was destroyed and her right arm was severed, she decides to transform her arm into both a rapier, and later, a katana, in order to fight Kirito.]]
* InsistentTerminology: {{Implied}}. She's not shown to have any real issues with her old name, but she goes by "Administrator" in the present and appears annoyed when Kirito calls her Quinella instead.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Attempted to [[spoiler:steal Cardinal's Authority and/or destroy it simply because she couldn't stand the idea of another having equal Authority as her over UW. It did become ''slightly'' more justified when revealed that Cardinal tried at multiple points to make her kill herself after their [[FusionDance fusion]]... but only because Quinella by that point had already started [[ControlFreak directly interfering with the lives of UW residents, something she wasn't supposed to do at all]].]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After arrogantly promising to grant Chudelkin's wish to touch her body if he disposed of the rebels, with no intention of keeping her word. Guess who ends up killing her? Chudelkin using [[NotQuiteDead his last breath]] to Incarnate the remains of his broken body into a fiery swarm and launches himself at Quinella so he can finally get the reward she longed for, with Quinella both horrified and disgusted at the repulsive clown touching her body.]]
* KickTheDog:
** Her turning the Elevator Operator into what she is, an immortal EmotionlessGirl forced to recite Wind Sacred Arts all day with very few breaks to the point that she's forgotten her own name, is seen as this by Kirito and Eugeo and as a sign of how she views the people she rules over. [[spoiler: And that's before she introduces the Sword Golem...]]
** [[spoiler:She plays a major part in causing Kirito's GameBreakingInjury and BreakTheCutie phase for the next three books by cleaving Eugeo in half.]]
** [[spoiler:She's also utterly contemptuous of Chudelkin even after he "dies" fighting for her. Alice, despite being fairly cold, is quite appalled at how callous Quinella is over the death of one of her servants. Although considering Chudelkin's general behaviour, this comes off more as KickTheSonOfABitch]].
** She also taunts Alice over how painful the process of forcibly turning her into an Integrity Knight must have been.
** In a flashback, she contemptuously dismisses the traumatized Renly as "broken" before sealing him away.
** In the Gameverse, her labelling the Orthinanos family as "defects", knowing that the weight of her words would make them pariahs among the nobility and subject it's descendants to horrendous abuse from other nobles.
** In "Memories of Bygone Days: Alice", she immediately refuses Alice's plea to help a Southacroith village when it comes under attack by monsters after suffering the aftereffects of a volcanic eruption and getting hit by a powerful storm. And while she does fix it in the end by putting a stop to both of the latter two, she only does so as in a move of spite towards Rath, who she realized caused both the eruption and the storm to force the residents to do their whims.
* KillItWithFire: Not only does she possess fire spells, [[spoiler: but Chudelkin setting her on fire is what does her in, and ''by accident'', no less.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: Has [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nu-0D8gPbk a theme]] consisting of a choir's ominous chanting.
* LightIsNotGood: She has long white hair and wears a white gown, and she's the Underworld's SatanicArchetype.
* LightDarknessJuxtaposition: She tends to dress in lavender/white and is otherwise associated with bright colors, while Kirito continues his DarkIsNotEvil theme, especially prominent when he uses Incarnation to manifest his Black Swordsman attire from SAO.
* ManipulativeBitch:
** [[spoiler:She manipulated Eugeo into removing his Core Protection to turn him into a Integrity Knight, using {{Gaslighting}} and praying on his [[IJustWantToBeLoved loveless background and skewed idea of it]].]]
** In Scheta's segment of "The Knight's Recollection", she spends the entire event grooming Scheta to be a powerful attack dog for her to use. Tempting her with "a sword that can cut through anything", she actively encourages her obsession with cutting and lies, [[AccidentalTruth or so she thinks]], that her continuing on her path would find her a way out of it to motivate her. She then goes as far as to manipulating another Knight into duelling Scheta, likely knowing he'd be killed, just to test the Black Lily Sword's capabilities.
* MasterSwordswoman: [[spoiler:Despite losing an arm, she proves skilled enough to keep pace with Kirito while he's DualWielding against her, even managing to take one of his arms at the cost of her remaining one.]]
* MindManipulation: [[spoiler:Quinella created loyal followers that came to be known as her Integrity Knights, who have their memories sealed off and will unquestioningly carry out her bidding.]]
* MySkullRunnethOver: After ruling for seventy years as an Immortal Ruler, Quinella discovered that her [=FluctLight=] had reached its limit of stored memories, [[spoiler:so the solution she came up with was overwrite a child's [=FluctLight=] with her own memories and [=FluctLight=] using the Synthesis Ritual. Though this would be her undoing as she ended up giving this girl [[PhysicalGod power equal to her own]] and she would end up becoming Cardinal.]]
* MoralMyopia: When asked why she would go the atrocious deeds of enslaving the souls of innocent people to become her Integrity Knights and not even being able to entrust them, she argues that her Piety Modules she implanted in her knights were out of an act of love which she reserved only for them, as it freed them from worry and pain and making them beautiful dolls who didn't need to think. In Quinella's eyes all her actions are just and she has done nothing wrong.
* MsFanservice: Has been regularly referred to as beautiful, voluptuous, and her clothing doesn't try to hide much of her figure, [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl if she's even wearing any]]. Not to mention how she [[spoiler:seduced Eugeo and fought against Kirito and Alice in the nude.]]
** In ''Rising Steel'', all of her Limit Break art thus far has her naked in some way, [Sweet Trap] having her laying seductively in her bed, [The World I Should Love] having her [[FullFrontalAssault fighting nude]], [Eternal Beauty] [[BathingBeauty showing her in the bath]], and [Whimsical Rhapsody], which has her sitting seductively in an ornate sofa. The only exception thus far is [The Glow in Your Hands] Administrator, and even then she's the first Administrator unit to [[FullFrontalAssault enter battle]] and appear on the homescreen in the buff.
* MysticalWhiteHair: Fitting for one who considers herself the goddess of UW and [[PhysicalGod has the power to back it up]].
* {{Narcissist}}: Quinella believes that as the elegant "goddess" of UW, everyone should kneel before her.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Quinella's attempt to amend her [[MySkullRunnethOver overflowing memory]] by imprinting to another [=FluctLight=] was what allowed Cardinal to split off from her and seize control of another individual, the little girl who would come to be known as Cardinal and resist her.]]
* NoSell: She made her skin as hard as iron and therefore impervious to any metal weapon. This is why Eugeo's dagger failed even with the element of surprise. [[spoiler:There's a ''heavy emphasis'' on the weapon being ''metal'' however - Eugeo and Kirito's swords bypass this drawback by being '''made''' of ice and wood, respectively - even ''Divine Objects'' are transmuted by Quinella herself into metal weapons in an attempt to counter this loophole.]]
* NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist: While she claims that turning half the Underworld (including her Knights) into sword golems is for their own safety, it's clear by her actions that she's nothing but a narcissistic ControlFreak who's no better than any of the other psychopaths Kirito has faced, like Sugou or Laughing Coffin. In fact, [[StupidEvil Quinella's refusal to allow the existence of any military force that she can't control has doomed the realm of humanity]], and this realization helps Kirito win Alice over to his side.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: She's almost exclusively referred to as "The Pontifex" or "Administrator" rather than Quinella. She's somewhat amused when Kirito calls her by her name.
* PetTheDog: A few examples, though [[ControlFreak all things]] [[TheSociopath considered]], they could all just be PragmaticVillainy.
** In "Homeside Waterfront", Alice states that she got a valuable catalyst from her to use to heal Amayori's seemingly unhealable wound.
** In "Memories of Bygone Days: Bercouli", while baffled at first, she takes Bercouli's request to make a giant bathhouse rather seriously.
* PhysicalGoddess: She imbued her [=FluctLight=] with the Cardinal sub-processor, which was essentially the god of the Underworld, and hence amassed its unlimited power.
* PlayingWithFire: Ranked up by killing foxes with fire arrows, and can shoot fire from her fingertips without having to recite anything.
* PosthumanNudism: Discards her entire dress after attaining godhood by implanting the administrative abilities inside her [=FluctLight=].
* PragmaticVillainy: Her outlawing of things like murder and entering the Dark Territory where there's monsters is done less for the sake of morals and protecting her people, but more to ensure that no one can do what she did to increase her Object Control Authority and System Authority growing up, ensuring her place as the most powerful being in the Underworld.
* PrehensileHair: [[spoiler:After losing both her arms, she resorts to turning her hair into needles. She also attempts to use a console by using her hair as fingers, or as razor-sharp blades and CombatTentacles in a last ditch-attempt to kill Kirito with in their duel.]]
* PromotedToPlayable: She is a playable character in several mobile games, and currently has the most playable appearances out of all the antagonists.
** In ''Memory Defrag'', she's first introduced as [Seductress] Administrator as part of the ''Sleeping Art Online'' April Fools Event, where she serves as the BigBad. Later on, she gains two more Units called [Coneqeror of Love] and [High Pontifex].
** Has her most playable appearances ''Rising Steel''.
*** [Sweet Trap] Administrator, featured in the “Gift from the High Pontifex” banner and her first playable Unit; a [[LightIsNotGood Light-Elemental]] Break Unit with a unique skillset that allows her to gain more Charge or inflict more Break when her foes are afflicted with Continuous Damage.
*** [The World I Should Love] Administrator, featured in the “Fearless Resistance” banner; a [[PlayingWithFire Fire-Elemental]] Charge Unit with an [[SuperMode Enhance Mode]] that has her do a FullFrontalAssault, while her Charge deals Continious Damage while her Assault deals added damage to enemies afflicted with it.
*** [Eternal Beauty] Administrator, featured in the "Eternal Beauty" banner; a magic wielding [[BlowYouAway Wind-Element]] Charge Unit with an [[SuperMode Enhance Mode]] whose playstyle focuses on increasing the Recollection Field to deal more damage.
*** [Whimsical Rhapsody] Administrator, featured in the "1.5 Anniversary - Part 3" banner; a Non-Element Charge Unit who's the closest to a SupportPartyMember, possessing a Charge Move that increases the party's critical damage while debuffing the enemies Incarnate Break, an Assault Skill that increases the party's attack, and a heal move that increases the party's physical resistance while adding a bar to the Recollection field.
*** [The Glow In Your Hands] Administrator, featured in the "Memories of Bygone Days Part 2" banner; another [[PlayingWithFire Fire-Element]] Charge Unit, though with a different skillset. This version of her puts a good deal of emphasis on increasing Charge, her Charge attack creating more when the Recollection field is three or higher, her first Assault Skill increasing her personal charge by x1.3 for one turn, and her Incarnate Skill creates a Recollection Field that, while active, increases the party's Charge when Incarnate is 40% or lower. And to round things up, her second Assault Skill deals Continuous Damage and adds 1 to the recollection field.
* ProperlyParanoid: Her decision to [[NoSell make herself immune to metal]] and make it so ''every'' Divine Object she makes or bequeaths to her Knights are made of metal proves to be this when Eugeo's attempt to use Cardinal's Dagger on her fails, as it would have teleported her to Cardinal's domain and given the latter a homefield advantage against her. [[spoiler: She's further vindicated when she fights Kirito, with him being able to defeat her due to both the Night Sky Sword and Blue Rose Sword not being able of metal, instead being wood and ice respectively.]]
* PurpleIsPowerful: Her white outfit and hair has light purple shades in them, along with her eyes, and she's certainly [[PhysicalGod powerful]] as the Administrator of Underworld.
* RapunzelHair: A major feature is her incredibly long hair, which is appropriate given her past as a noblewoman and now as the ruler of the world.
* RealityWarper: [[spoiler:Possessing Cardinal's Authority gives her the ability to use very high-level System Commands that virtually allow her to shape the reality of UW to her will.]]
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: She's 363 years old and retains her youthful appearance, both of which are made possible only after meddling with the Cardinal system in an attempt to control it.
* {{Sadist}}: Despite freezing most of her emotions, she still takes pleasure in [[spoiler:killing Cardinal slowly]] and states that she wants to see Kirito's despair.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She acts like one in regards to the Knights, often overlooking any rudeness, such as when they're initially summoned and Eydis' informal behaviour, and granting certain requests, such as Linel and Fizel's desire to become Integrity Knights after freeing them from her Ressurection experiment. This is in contrast to Chudelkin, who endlessly picks on them over anything he can find and often gets angry when they do something that could be seen as disrespectful to himself or Quinella.
** [[spoiler: In "Memories of the Abyss", she further cultivates this image by letting Eydis off the hook after she lost control of her Divine Object and attacked Bercouli, knowing fully well of the possibility of that happening.]]
* SanitySlippage: It's really subtle but in ''Lycoris'' [[spoiler: after her first death, she absolutely lose herself when Kirito managed to kill her and when she got resurrected she'll do anything to screw him and the others, along with the entirety of the Underworld, on their attempt to kill her again, especially Kirito whom she despise so much that she willingly bring down the entire Underworld just to kill him. This get worse when Kirito finally defeated her for the second time and by the third and the final time Kirito fought her, she's reduced to LaughingMad from combination of her defeat, her continuous resurrection and [[ImpliedTrope perhaps]] from wielding the power of the Main Visualizer (since the power give her an omnipresence, meaning she knew about everything in Underworld but it's heavily implied wielding such a great power is to much for her soul).]]
* SatanicArchetype: Her backstory paints her as one. She rebelled against the Underworld's version of God in order to become one herself, setting herself up as one gifted by the gods before constructing a false faith in her own name, eventually succeeded in her goals, and ruled by her specially-prepared laws [[spoiler:and her Integrity Knights]].
* ShamelessFanserviceGirl: After attaining godhood by imprinting Cardinal's system administrator abilities onto her [=FluctLight=], she decided she was above simple things such as clothes, discarding her garments and often staying fully nude. WordOfGod says that she doesn't feel shame about being nude because she's realized she's in a simulation. Even her body isn't truly real, so what's the point of caring?
* SinisterMinister: She fancies herself as Axiom's high minister and rules UW with an iron fist.
* SleepsInTheNude: She's introduced to the audience [[NakedOnArrival sleeping naked in her luxurious bed]].
* SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat: A huge jump from all of her predecessors in both power and threat. While previous SAO villains did make Kirito struggle, he could typically take them down on his own with limited assistance from the respective ArcHero. Quinella however is godlike and initially towered over Kirito, whereby it took several [[spoiler:sacrifices from his friends to wear her down before the playing field had been leveled for Kirito to match her]]. Also unlike the other villains who restricted their crimes to game communities, she has ruled over a human empire for centuries. [[spoiler: Not only is she the first villain since Kayaba [[AnArmAndALeg to land a significant physical blow]] to Kirito, she's also the one to severely damage Kirito's mental health, to the point where he becomes comatose and depressed (thanks to killing his friends), something that no other villain has come close to. Even to this day, her killing of Eugeo still haunts him, and that's ''after'' he defeated the next, more [[InvincibleVillain invincible villain]] - Gabriel Miller.]]
* TheSociopath: She never cares for the welfare of the UW people because [[ItsAllAboutMe it's all about her in her head]]. {{Justified}} [[spoiler:in that she had to seal her emotions to prevent [[FightingFromTheInside Cardinal]] from [[DrivenToSuicide making her kill herself]] during times of emotional distress... but also double-subverted in that Quinella had already begun her experiments into manipulating the UW residents by this time, so she already was a psychopath, she just made herself worse]]. She feels no remorse for the trouble she's caused and even convinces her victims that she's helping them by twisting their feelings and memories.
* StatuesqueStunner: Towers over the other female characters, being even taller than Kirito despite being the same biological age as him appearance-wise.
* StrongAndSkilled: While she could be mistaken for UnskilledButStrong at first with her over-reliance on her godlike Administrator powers and mastery of the Sacred Arts, she is revealed to be as well versed in sword combat as Kirito himself. Even having worn her down with weapons that can harm her, she still spends a fair share of the fight thrashing Kirito by showcasing her knowledge of Sword Skills. After all, she did fuse with the Cardinal System and knows of the ''entire command list'', so it's not like she couldn't gain the knowledge one way or another, either by peering through Eugeo's memories, or by having the Cardinal system record the data every time Kirito or Eugeo swung their swords.
* StupidEvil: Quinella's ControlFreak tendencies bite her in the ass when it's revealed that humanity is doomed because she refuses to allow the existence of any military force that isn't under her complete control. This realization is what convinces Alice to turn on her in favor of Kirito. [[spoiler: {{Subverted}} in that she ''did'' have a plan. It just involved a lot HumanSacrifice to create robotic soldiers made of swords, which is arguably even worse.]]
* SuperToughness: She's made herself ''immune'' to iron and all forms of metal, which is what most weapons in the world are made from. This is why Kirito and Eugeo's swords, which aren't made of metal, are able to hurt her.
* SweetTooth: UpToEleven in the Cake Timeline, where being able to eat the new, exotic cakes Kirito replicates in the Underworld is the reason she's considering [[HeelFaceTurn working together with]] [[ArchEnemy Cardinal]] [[HeelFaceTurn to properly protect the Underworld from invasion]].
* TermsOfEndangerment: She uses the affectionate "-chan" honorific on Alice, even after it's become clear that Alice is now her enemy. She also occasionally calls Cardinal "Lyserith-chan."
* TooPowerfulToLive: [[spoiler:Notably Quinella is the first villain who was not allowed to remain alive after her defeat[[note]]Kayaba [[SelfDisposingVillain chose to take his own life]][[/note]], albeit not by Kirito's hand. Had she succeeded in escaping to the real world, she would have been able to cause all sorts of chaos.]]
* TorsoWithAView: [[spoiler:After Kirito impales her in the heart, what's left behind in the impact spot is a large hole in the center of her chest.]]
* UsedToBeASweetKid: In an original story in ''Rising Steel'', we learn that before she received her Calling as a Sacred Arts researcher, Quinella came off as [[SpoiledSweet a kind girl who wanted to receive a calling so she could benefit her village in spite of her Noble Status]], a far cry from the [[{{Sadist}} Sadistic]] ControlFreak we meet in the present.
* TheVamp: Seduces Eugeo with the promise of fulfilling his desire to be loved, even stripping off all her clothes in front of him.
* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:After Kirito deals her a lethal wound she attempts to escape to the real world in a robotic body. It would have worked if [[SpannerInTheWorks Chudelkin]] had not been still alive.]]
* VillainHasAPoint: [[spoiler:When Kirito calls Quinella out on all the atrocities she committed of controlling her world, Quinella counter-argues that he's from a world of people who did the same thing by creating a world for their own purposes. So what right does a boy from such a world have to judge her?]]
* VillainousFriendship: PlayedWith. Despite him being more of a HeroAntagonist than genuinely evil, she seemed to have a friendly relationship with Bercouli, the two of them apparently drinking win together in her quarters often and her even opening up to him about her {{Paranoiac}} tendencies that prompted her ControlFreak nature. Of course, [[TheSociopath knowing her]], she may have just been faking it.
* VillainousBreakdown: She loses her cool when Eugeo [[spoiler:fuses with his sword, enabling him to destroy her Sword Golem and cut off her arm - or when Kirito later impales her through the heart later on. While she could easily shrug it off the first two times (on account of having said arm transformed into a second sword, and an escape route into the real world), what really seals the deal is the panic on her face when Chudelkin unexpectedly shows up and sets her on fire, which thwarts her escape and eventually kills her, though she manages to [[GoOutWithASmile regain control before her death]].]]
** Her breakdown is even more profounded in ''Lycoris'', after Kirito manage to break her rapier with [[spoiler:,the currently fused Eugeo, Blue Rose Sword]] and Kirito used the Night Sky Blade to kill her, she let out a shrill SkywardScream and she died with a face full of agony and hatred toward the man who killed her. [[spoiler: Let just say when she get resurrected, she'll absolutely do anything to kill him and his friends to the point cutting of the Underworld communication with the real world '''AND''' bringing down the entire Underworld just to kill him simply out of spite. Pretty much showing how much [[SanitySlippage she had lose herself]] by the time of the final act had began.]]
* VillainTakesAnInterest: She's done this with a few of her Knights.
** She apparently took a quick interest in Eydis after Synthesizing her, with her promising to give Eydis a dragon after her first mission, the earliest any Knight at the time has got theirs, and surprising Bercouli by expressing a desire to grant her a Divine Object upon her return, sending her to grab the material for it after only her second mission, curious as to whether she's maintain control of the sword's memories or lose her mind in the process. She also took notes from the experience so she could refine the Synthesis ritual.
** Upon Scheta's recruitment, she approached her and proceeded to tempt her with a sword that could cut through anything, and then [[ManipulativeBitch encourages]] her cutting obsession after she made it and granted it to her. She's disappointed however when Scheta requested to be put into Deep Freeze after she accidentally killed a fellow Knight in a duel, whom she offered to give a Divine Object to should he best her in a duel, pondering if she screwed up the Synthesis ritual or made the Black Lily Sword too sharp.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[spoiler: Even after her death, her reputation as a benevolent ruler is maintained due to the unrest that would be caused by her true nature going public. Kirito actually fears that the people learning of her death at his hands would ruin his own OneHundredPercentAdorationRating as the Star King and head of the Human Unification Council.]]
* WeaponOfChoice: ''Silvery Eternity'', her RoyalRapier, signifying her prestige and authority as the Ruler of the Underworld with its pimped-out design. [[spoiler:It ends up a WreckedWeapon during her fight with Kirito when Eugeo decides to intervene.]]
* WeCanRuleTogether: She offers this to all three of the Rulid trio.
** She first gives it to Eugeo offering him the love which he has desired all his life, to which he ''very nearly'' submits after being broken by her MindRape. Eugeo gets voluntarily subjected to Synthesis and Synthesised into an Integrity Knight, but eventually breaks free and tries to incapacitate Quinella himself with a special dagger created by Cardinal. Upon his betrayal being discovered, Quinella offers him a last chance to pledge his loyalty and destroying Cardinal's dagger. Eugeo of course refuses having finally come to understand what love is.
** After she sees Alice has broken the Seal of the Right Eye by her own volition, she offers to re-Synthesise Alice so she would no longer feel pain or emotion. Alice angrily rejects this proposal, citing the pain allowed her to realize she was human and not a doll-like Integrity Knight.
** She even gives this offer to Kirito, stating she'd spare his life if he went into her servitude as her secretary. Kirito of course pays no heed and continues fighting.
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Inverted. Quinella actually constantly preaches love and that she gives it to her loyal followers, but the twist is that she does not truly understand what love is, using it as a placeholder word for 'desire' or 'control'.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: [[spoiler: After her first death in ''Lycoris'', Quinella attempt to resurrect herself cause her consciousness to stuck within the Main Visualizer, in which she manage to get an omnipresence ability, but it turns out that gaining omnipresence proves to be to much for her mind to handle that she winds up losing what last bit of her sanity and reasonable thinking, to the point she pretty much decide to preserve herself just because that was the only thing she can do with, which signing Quinella complete fall from grace to the point the entire Rulid trio simply pities her when they realize how pathetic and desperate she had became by the final battle, [[DontYouDarePityMe something she takes complete offense at]]. In the end after her defeat, Quinella manage to regain her sanity back as she died and realize how free she felt when the omnipresence ability is finally gone from her.]]
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Stated to be this by a couple of characters, including Eugeo and Kirito. Even before becoming a PhysicalGod, she was seen as one of the great beauties of the Underworld, which likely helped her convince people of her divinity.
* WouldHurtAChild: As Linel and Fizel can attest to, she has no problem harming children or using them in her Sacred Art experiments. In fact, in the one the aforementioned girls were in, she gathered about thirty children and had them all kill each other so she could test out a Sacred Art to [[BackFromTheDead bring people back from the dead]], leading to large amounts of BodyHorror, and only stopped when only Linel and Fizel were left, coming out of it severely traumatized and as the CuteAndPsycho girls we now know.
* YouKeepUsingThatWord: A reoccurring theme brought up with her is her inability to understand ''love''. She believes love is simply desire and that it can be acquired through an exchange. She also seems to believe that love is a means of controlling others, whereby she twists the emotion into making her Integrity Knights and her Sword Golems fiercely loyal to her.
--> '''Quinella''': To love is to control. I love everything. I rule everything.
----

[[folder:Prime Senator Chudelkin]]
!!Prime Senator Chudelkin
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/WataruTakagi (Japanese), Frank Todaro (English)
[[quoteright:270:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/omake_screencap_sword_art_online_alicization_episode_21_chudelkin_patched_up.jpg]]

Leader of the Senators, a group dedicated to enforcing the Taboo Index.

* {{Acrofatic}}: Despite appearances, his main mode of transportation is to BeTheBall and he proves to be surprisingly nimble, constantly dancing and prancing about and is even able to do a headstand. [[spoiler: Possibly {{Subverted}} when it turns out he's [[NotHyperbole literally]] full of hot air.]]
* AmbiguouslyHuman: Given his drastically different NonStandardCharacterDesign, it really makes one wonder what his species is.
* BadBoss: Chudelkin is notorious for abusing the Integrity Knights; he rudely dismisses all of their concerns about the possibility of invasion by the Dark Territory, he insults them over the most trivial things, and is all too willing to Deep Freeze them if they displease him. [[UngratefulBastard This is despite the fact their existence alone is what prevents the Dark Territory from launching a full-scale invasion]].
* BerserkButton: ''Don't'' even think about calling him a lump of meat if you don't want [[OffWithHisHead your head torn off]].
* BeTheBall: His primary form of transport is to curl into a ball and bounce about the place.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He looks like a clown and seems relatively silly. But he's a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] individual who's highly skilled with Sacred Arts, and so should not be underestimated.
* DirtyOldMonk: While his exact age is never specified, though he's {{Implied}} to have been bossing Bercouli around for a while, Chudelkin, as the Prime Senator, is technically a member of the Axiom Church's clergy, yet he's an obsessive StalkerWithACrush towards Quinella, [[spoiler: even requesting that he get a night with free access to her body in exchange for killing the Rulid Trio]], and one of the Skits during "Overflowing Eternal Affection" Scout hints that he at least once entered the Great Baths during the girls times while Eydis was using her privacy to mock him.
* DisproportionateRetribution: He threatens to turn Eugeo into a horse the next time he fails to address Chudelkin with the "Kakka" honorific (roughly equivalent to "Your Excellency") after his "Prime Senator" title.
* TheDragon: He’s the second-in-command to Quinella, and unlike the Integrity Knights, he is straight out evil and delights in committing atrocities for her.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: He only ever refers to Integrity Knights by their numbers rather than their names.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Has a very deep gravelly voice and is likely the most evil being in the Axion Church save for Quinella herself. The dub makes his voice deeper yet to the point it resembles ComicBook/TheJoker.
* EyeScream: While casting his most powerful Sacred Art that conjures a giant fire genie, he burns his own eyes out.
* FatBastard: A pudgy fat man dressed like a clown who constantly mocks everyone around him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He speaks with a formal and polite tone, yet has no issue with addressing others condescendingly.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: During her and Kirito's confrontation with him, Alice briefly speculates that Chudelkin might be [[NotSoDifferentRemark similar to the Integrity Knights in that he was someone who Quinella manipulated for her own ends to act as her]] [[UndyingLoyalty loyal servant.]] However, she also states that he deserves no pity in spite of this since unlike the Knights, he derived far too much pleasure from his role as TheDragon to the High Pontifex, such as the sadistic glee he gained from putting Alice through the Forced Synthesis Ritual.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Less friend and more acquaintance. While he is on the same side as the Integrity Knights and technically their boss, none of them like him given he [[BadBoss treats them like trash]]. Bercouli in fact outright despises him and when given the chance doesn’t shy away from directly insulting him.
* GigglingVillain: He lets off a laugh of "Hoh-hoh-hoh!"
* GlassCannon: He is one of the most powerful Sacred Users of all time (and possibly the best other than Quinella and Cardinal). However he had nothing in the way of physical combat, and goes down very easily if he takes damage.
* GreenEyedMonster: He is obsessed with Quinella and becomes aggressively jealous if she so much as even gives attention to anyone else.
* {{Gonk}}: He's a short, pudgy man with heavy makeup who doesn't look much like anyone on the Integrity Knights' side.
* HatedByAll: It soon becomes clear there is absolutely no one, hero or villain, that likes Chudelkin. The Integrity Knights all range from not caring about him to outright despising him. Even Quinella [[FauxAffablyEvil feigns politeness]] around him and is all too eager to cast him aside like trash when he’s [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]]. In reality, she's also repulsed by him.
* InsistentTerminology: Always chastises anyone who doesn't refer to him by "Prime Senator".
* {{Irony}}: He, Quinella's most fervent follower, [[spoiler:is the one who kills her in the end.]]
* JerkassAtYourDiscretion: He's a very rude and abusive BadBoss who torments anyone in sight... until Quinella appears where he suddenly piles on praise and polite language. [[spoiler:The most direspectful he ever gets is asking if she'll sleep with him if he disposes of Kirito, Eugeo and Alice, and even then he phrases it like a humble request]].
* {{Kevlard}}: Inverted; while he's [[FatBastard pudgy]], he can take little punishment.
* KickTheDog: He gleefully recounts how poorly Alice was treated, and how she despaired once her hopes of being able to return home were dashed before she ended up becoming an Integrity Knight, particularly how she begged not to forget the people who were most important to her.
* LightIsNotGood: Wears some white, and is a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] PsychopathicManchild.
* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulated the Integrity Knights into fighting Kirito and Eugeo by putting them under the belief that they were invaders from Dark Territory.
* MisterBig: As the Prime Senator, he's the highest authority in the Central Cathedral save for Quinella herself. Yet he's diminutive and barely taller than a child. Also worth noting is he is a contender for the most powerful Sacred Arts user in the Human Empire, barring Quinella.
* MonsterClown: He dresses more like a jester than a clown, but otherwise he still gives off these vibes, and unlike the Integrity Knights he's unconditionally evil. Some of the characters even derogatorily refer to him as a clown.
* TheNapoleon: Chudelkin is a short, arrogant man.
* NoIndoorVoice: He yells at the top of voice for often no reason at times, to anyone other than Quinella.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:It looked as though he had already met his end at the hands of Kirito, with Quinella even casting his lifeless body aside. But we later see he wasn't quite finished yet, and he uses presumably the last of his Durability to launch himself at Quinella's body to finally touch and be with her, much to her horror, whereby he burns the both of them out.]]
* NonStandardCharacterDesign: Everything about him, all the way down to his clashing colors and the 8-bit sound effects, looks nothing like a ''Sword Art Online'' character and more like he belongs in a completely different franchise.
* NotBrainwashed: Alice speculates that Chudelkin may be a victim of Quinella just like the Integrity Knights. Whether or not this is true, what's made clear is Chudelkin had full knowledge of what Quinella was really doing and not only supported her but actively partook in the immoral activities himself.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: He may be small, but he's a very powerful Scared Arts user.
* PlayingWithFire: His most powerful Sacred Art involves summoning a gigantic fire genie.
* ThePowerOfLust: He's generally spends the arc as a DirtyCoward, but he's immediately motivated to fight when [[spoiler: Quinella offers him a night with access to her body if he kills the Rulid Trio, even summoning [[PlayingWithFire a giant, fiery version of himself.]]]]
* PsychopathicManchild: He's clearly an adult, but acts extremely immature; he throwing tantrums over the most trivial of things, dresses like a clown, and he giggles at the silliest of stuff. His private quarters is brightly colored room full of children's toys, like a child's bedroom. "Fearless Resistance" even shows him angrily bouncing up and down in response to Quinella requesting a late-night meeting with Bercouli so he can give his mission reports. However he is also AxCrazy and [[{{Sadist}} enjoys torture or ordering the execution of others]].
* {{Sadist}}: He enjoys executions and torture.
* SitcomArchNemesis: In ''Rising Steel'', while he seems to have beef with every Knight, he and Eydis simply cannot stand each other, with him always getting upset at her blatant lack of respect for him and laid back attitude.
* {{Slimeball}}: He rivals Sugou as the most detestable character in the whole series. Aside from the fact he's an evil MonsterClown, he's also smarmy, manipulative, and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder betrays his own allies without a second thought after coming upon someone more useful]]. In stark contrast to Quinella who is seductively FauxAffablyEvil, he's downright [[BadBoss abusive and condescending]] to the Integrity Knights and outright calls them puppets to do his bidding. He's a DirtyCoward who flees the second he's in danger and will not hesitate to reducing himself to grovelling. He also reveals he's just as sickly perverted as any of the other SAO villains before him (if not worse), lusting for Quinella and requesting he spend a night with access to her body if he were to dispose of the rebels.
* SmokeOut: [[spoiler: It turns out his "fat" might actually be a large amount of smoke he has in his clothes, as shown when Alice impales him, causing it all to burst out and cover his escape.]]
* SmugSnake: Chudelkin is this in regards to the Dark Territory; he dismisses all the Knight's concerns about possible invasion. In ''Rising Steel'', he even berates Eydis when she doesn't kill a group of them she finds doing something suspicious, instead opting to play it safe and report back to Bercouli, which many agree is the smarter option.
* SquishyWizard: He's not much of a physical fighter, but he's incredibly skilled with Sacred Arts which are so destructive he can easily be a OneManArmy in his own right.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:He hugs Quinella while he's on fire, immolating her before she can escape to the real world via a console.]]
* VillainsWantMercy: As soon as things go south, he's reduced to a [[VillainousBreakdown blubbering wreck]] who begs for his life.
* YouCalledMeXItMustBeSerious: A rare villainous example. Typically he derogatorily refers to the Integrity Knights via their numerical designations. When Alice defects and holds him at sword point, with his life on the line he finally refers to her as "Alice" to try and appease her.
* YouHaveFailedMe: He plans on reprocessing the Integrity Knights (or at least Bercouli and Fanatio) after seeing Bercouli fail to defeat Eugeo.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Quinella has no qualms with tossing aside Chudelkin's lifeless corpse after Kirito offs him.

!!Glowgen Defense Systems

[[folder:In General]]

A [[UsefulNotes/UnitedStates US]]-based company that was hired by the National Security Agency to assault the Ocean Turtle to obtain the Soul Translator technology secretly developed there.

* AnimeAccentAbsence: They are supposed to be Americans, but speak perfect [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseLanguage Japanese]].
* ArmyOfThievesAndWhores: They're all comprised of criminals. Captain Dario Ziliani remarks that (with the exception of Gabriel Miller), none of the Glowgen operatives had any sense of discipline.
* {{Eagleland}}: Given that they're the antagonists in ''Alicization'', it's the boorish variety. They're also Americans.
%%* EvilCounterpart: To Rath.
* FighterMageThief: Villain example. The three main faces of the group could be seen to have this dynamic.
** Gabriel is the Fighter, being the PhysicalGod who relies on aggressive WeHaveReserves tactics against the Human Army. He also is powerful enough to be a match for several heavy-hitters like [[spoiler: Bercouli, Sinon (who's logged in as [[PhysicalGod Solus]]), and a recently revived and empowered Kirito]].
** [=PoH=] is the Thief, being a ProfessionalKiller who can sneak into the human encampment and kill several guards. He also later [[spoiler: ambushes the Human Army and ALO players with his army of Chinese and Koreans]].
** Critter is the Mage, being TheCracker who hacks into the Ocean Turtle's system to log Gabriel and Vassago in. He even [[spoiler: recruits and logs in foreign players to serve as Gabriel and Vassago's reinforcements]].
* GratuitousEnglish: They slip a lot of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanEnglish English]] words into their dialogue as a way of showing [[JustifiedTrope they are not Japanese]].
* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler: After the mission ends, Critter suspects the surviving team members are likely to be detained or even killed due to the American Government not wanting it to leak that they violated their treaty with Japan and led an attack on one of their facilities. Because this could cause an international incident, he stole a data-chip before they left the Ocean Turtle; he was hoping to use it to bargain for his life]].
* PostFinalBoss: [[spoiler: After the defeat and (seemingly for the latter) deaths of [[BigBad Gabriel]] and [[TheDragon Vassago]], the remaining mercenaries declare the mission a failure and attempt to blow up the Ocean Turtle before leaving. Though, one of them stays behind in [[AvengingTheVillain hopes of avenging his partner]]. It takes the combined efforts of Kayaba in a robot body and Kikuoka to prevent the bomb from going off]].
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: They operate in this way. It's a case of TruthInTelevision, as the GDS HQ is located in [[UsefulNotes/{{California}} San Diego]]. In RealLife, there's a heavy presence of both the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks U.S. Navy's Point Loma base]] and [[SemperFi U.S. Marine Corps Camp Pendleton]] in San Diego County. It means there are innumerable corporations [[note]] (mainly related to industries like communications, biotech, and engineering) [[/note]] in the region with major Department of Defense contracts.
* ProfessionalKiller: All of Glowgen's operatives specialize in assasinating people.
* RedOniBlueOni: Vassago is the impulsive and hotheaded red to Gabriel's calmer and logical blue.
* UnskilledButStrong: As experienced in assasination the operatives are, as Vassago himself remarks, they are no match for soldiers with formal training like the JSDF.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gabriel Miller / Subtilizer / Vector]]
!!Gabriel Miller / Subtilizer (GGO, UW) / Vector (UW)
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Creator/AkiraIshida (Japanese), Creator/RieKugimiya (Japanese, young), Ted Sroka (English, ''Alicization''), Creator/GregChun (English, ''War of Underworld''), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English, young)

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabriels_real_life_concept.png]]
[[caption-width-right:250:[[labelnote:Click here to see Vector]]\\
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabriel_vector_anime.png[[/labelnote]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see the True Gabriel Miller]]\\
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gabrielmiller.jpg[[/labelnote]]]]

--> "''Your soul will be so sweet.''"

Chief Technological Officer of "Glowgen Defense Systems" and son of the founder and former [=CTO=]. During the events of the Alicization arc, he leads a 12-men team of operators, at the request of the National Security Agency, on an assault of the Ocean Turtle.
----
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: Despite his status as the strongest being there, [[TheSocialDarwinist which dictates that they follow him unquestionably]], none of the Dark Territory members seem to actually like him or are genuinely loyal to him. [[spoiler:Shasta and Lipia die trying to kill him, Fu Za stopped Shasta out of a personal grude as opposed to loyalty]], [[TheStarscream Dee Eye Ell has plans to usurp his authority]], Kosogi thinks he's being manipulated by Dee Eye Ell and uses LoopholeAbuse in regards to his orders, Lilpilin is angered when he orders [[spoiler: 3,000 of his people dead for a spell]], and Iskahn is disgusted by his WeHaveReserves mentality enough to [[spoiler: betray him himself]] and even before that he was [[spoiler: rooting for Shasta when he made an attempt on his life.]]
* AchievementInIgnorance: He has no idea how [[spoiler:he managed to consume Lipia's [=FluctLight=]]], but he doesn't care and is delighted nonetheless.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** {{Downplayed}}. [[spoiler: The Light Novel depicts him as somewhat UnskilledButStrong, due to lacking much skill in swordsmanship but compensating for that with the Vecta account's stats and PowerOfTheVoid, something which is {{Lampshaded}} by Bercouli during their duel. In the Anime however, he's depicted as being much more skilled with the Vecta account's sword and Bercouli's observation on his lack of swordsmanship prowess is adapted out.]]
** Weird [[ZigZagged Zig Zag]], with two scenes swapping his reactions to certain events. [[spoiler: When he presented Lipia's head to lure out the treasonous general, he actually displayed concerned when Shasta attempted to kill him and turned into a murderous tornado, trying to strategize a way out before determining there is none. Later on in his fight with Bercouli, he's noted to have a completely expressionless face when Bercouli finally kills him with the Uragiri, dying with nary a sound. In the anime, his reactions to both of these are swapped, with him keeping a straight in the face of Shasta's charge yet displaying surprise and even howling in pain when killed by the Uragiri.]]
* AdaptationalVillainy: As much of a bastard he is in the lightnovels, he actually manages to be worse in the anime, having a penchant for [[spoiler: [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]]]] that was never present in the lightnovels.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:During their fight, Sinon's final attack destroys his arm in addition to the [=XM500=] he generated. He temporarily replaces it with [[ArtificialLimbs one made of pure energy]] for his final duel with Kirito.]]
* AnimalMotifs:
** In his introductory chapter, Dario Giulani, the captain of the ''USS Jimmy Carter'', the sub that would transport Gabriel's forces right before the Ocean Turtle raid, describes him as having hollow eyes that "devoured all light like a bottomless pit" like the great white shark that he encountered while he was swimming in Miami. Considering [[YourSoulIsMine the type of person]] Gabriel is, this is fitting.
** He also has a minor link with insects; his interest in the soul was born out of curiosity over his father's insect collection and a insect's strange ability to survive things like getting their heads bitten off, wondering where their souls could be. The first opening for ''War of Underworld'' also shows him at a desk with a frame of frozen butterflies behind him.
* AnimeAccentAbsence: Despite being an American, his Japanese is perfect. In fact it is his GratuitousEnglish which has a Japanese accent.
* TheAntiGod: As the Dark God Vecta, he is this to Goddess of Creation Stacia. In the mythology of Underworld, Vecta was the one god who was not created by Stacia, being a sentience who was birthed from the darkness itself and opposed Stacia, envying her power. He also became the reason why humans die, as he steals their lives over time, effectively making him TheGrimReaper, but his origins also make him effectively {{Satan}}.
* ArchAngelGabriel: Named Gabriel and has a backstory and personality painting him as a SatanicArchetype, making him a FallenAngel so to speak. He even takes on an angelic form when he goes OneWingedAngel, termed his "Angel of Death" form where he gains a dark shadowy form with six wings and a halo.
* ArchEnemy:
** To Alice. The man dedicates himself to capturing Alice's soul and having it for himself while being at the forefront of the Dark Territory's attack on the Human Empire, which Alice fought so hard to protect. It becomes very personal for Alice when [[spoiler:he kills Bercouli, the closest thing Alice had to a father.]]
** To Sinon. Ever since he delivered a CurbStompBattle and brutally killed her in the 4th [=BoB=], Sinon has been haunted by dreams of him. Defeating Subtilizer becomes almost as big of a priority to her as defeating Death Gun. Likewise, Gabriel sees Sinon as [[WorthyOpponent worthy prey]] and too desires her soul for his taking.
** Interestingly, this is [[AvertedTrope averted]] with Kirito. The two never develop this sort of relationship due to how late Kirito was in participating in the war. The two of them do not even know each other when they finally meet face-to-face, and have never gained any personal hatred towards one another. To Kirito, Gabriel is merely the threat that needs to be stopped, while Gabriel views Kirito as just another insect for him to squash. This makes him one of the few {{Big Bad}}s who does not develop this dynamic with Kirito.
* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler:After Sinon blows off his right arm (along with his rifle), he temporarily replaces it with one made of dark, multicolored- energy, although it doesn't always stay solid, often morphing into a lash of sorts]].
* AxCrazy: Hands down the biggest example in the series. ''Hands down''. Not even the Laughing Coffin, an organization dedicated to PlayerKilling, at their most terrifying reaches to his level of derangement. To put it into perspective, whilst Vassago's kills number in the triple-digits, the vast majority of them were done in SAO. Gabriel had already committed his first murder when he was still a child, and it only progressed from there, such as "experimenting" on as much as more than ''100'' people in real life to satisfy his curiosity of the human soul.
* BadassBoast: Makes one [[spoiler: during his fight with Kirito]].
--> [[YourSoulIsMine I am the one who reaps]]. [[OmnicidalManiac The one who steals all heat, all life, all existence]]. [[IAmTheNoun I am the abyss]].
* {{Badass in Charge}}: Of both [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Glowgen Defense Systems]] and [[TheEmpire The Dark Territory]]. Gabriel is hands down the most powwerful villain in the entireshow and goes almost unchallenged until he faces Kirito.
* BadBoss: He has little regard for the lives of his forces and will do anything to get what he wants, including killing anyone who questions him. [[spoiler:When Gabriel leaves the Dark Territory forces at the mercy of the American players he invited, they pull an EnemyMine with the Human Empire]].
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: [[spoiler: [[EnfantTerrible His]] childhood [[PlayingWithSyringes experiments]] on insects]].
* BarehandedBladeBlock: Admittedly, one of the most impressive examples in fiction. [[spoiler: When Bercouli tries attacking him with the suspended slash generated from his initial strike like he did with Eugeo in their duel, Gabriel is able to sense it and slam his hands together to stop it and absorb its Incarnation, the only damage being to the Vecta account's crown.]]
* {{Battlecry}}: [[spoiler:During his fight with Kirito, he's eventually reduced to screaming "NULL!" as a reflection of his empty nature]].
* BigBad: After Quinella is defeated, he takes over this role for ''Alicization''.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: When he's using Incarnation, the whites in his eyes turn a pitch black, which, combined with his natural IcyBlueEyes, makes him go from looking intimidating to outright demonic.
* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler: After spending the entire Arc as an InvincibleVillain who causes the death of thousands of Artificial Fluctlights for his own ends, [[HeroKiller even personally killing]] [[WorldsBestWarrior Bercouli]], his response to being DraggedOffToHell by his previous victims is to drop his generally emotionless visage and [[DirtyCoward scream in terror]], [[AintTooProudToBeg begging for his forces to save him from his fate.]]]]
* BroughtDownToBadass: [[spoiler: Even after Bercouli pulls a HeroicSacrifice takes out his Vecta Avatar, he's still a massive threat even when using the comparatively weaker Subtiliser Avatar due to his powerful Incarnation.]]
* TheCaligula: As the Dark God, Emperor Vecta, Gabriel is an atrocious BadBoss who, [[VillainBall instead of relying on his IRL mercenary leader experience]], seems content with just [[WeHaveReserves sending waves of his troops at the enemy]] [[SmugSnake out of the arrogant belief that the human army will be overwhelmed easily]], and he has no qualms with [[spoiler: having Dee Eye Ell sacrifice 3,000 Orcs to power a Death Worm Curse and using his remaining forces as bait for the Human Army and the American Players Critter summons to capture Alice in the commotion.]]
* CallForward: [[spoiler:He shows up in ''Fatal Bullet'', being revealed to be the mastermind behind Lievre's EvilPlan. He teases the ''Alicization'' arc, where he mentions that the entire incident was to collect data on noteworthy players and that the "rabbit" would light the way to Wonderland before promising Alice he'd see her again.]]
* CardCarryingVillain: {{Invoked}}. When he logs in as Vecta, he hypes up the Dark Territory forces and rallies them behind him with a speech about how he'll lead them in laying waste to the Human Empire, killing everyone there and plundering it for all it's worth. Though seeing as he later describes himself as something akin to a GrimReaper [[spoiler:during his fight with Kirito]], he probably plays this straight as well.
--> "''Blood and terror. Flames and destruction. Death and screams.''"
* ChallengeSeeker: {{Implied}}. For both the 1st and 4th [=BoBs=], he entered with some form of handicap that should realistically put him at a disadvantage, entering the former armed with only a pistol and knife, and the latter completely unarmed and instead stealing weapons from the other participants via his ''Army Combatant'' ability. These, however, do nothing to stop him from [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] the competition.
* ChekhovsGunman: Before blowing themselves up, Sinon told Kirito of the outcome of the first Bullet of Bullets tournament where it ended in a tie because the person who should have won got caught off guard. This is further explained under TakingYouWithMe.
* TheChessmaster: As Vecta, he is quick to take advantage of the Dark Territory's conditioning to follow the "Rule of the strongest" for his own ends, using them all as cannon fodder to overwhelm the Human Army and use them as bait so he can [[spoiler:capture Alice just as he has his IRL allies summon American Players to hold them off from pursuing him.]]
* ColdSniper: [[spoiler: During his fight with Sinon, he responds to her turning Solus' bow into her PGM Hecate by turning his crossbow into a XM500 Anti-Material rifle.]]
* CombatTentacles: He can manifest shadowy tentacles for battle.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: To Quinella. Both are the main villains of the Alicization arc and both are [[PhysicalGod physical gods]]. But while Quinella was a tyrannical ruler of Underworld, Gabriel seeks to invade Underworld and become it’s new ruler. And while Quinella is one of Kirito’s [[ArchEnemy archenemies]] and isn’t an obvious EvilCounterpart, Gabriel is Just another EvilCounterpart to Kirito and isn’t one of Kirito’s most personal foes.
* CoolSword:
** His sword as Dark God Vecta looks especially impressive, being a OneHandedZweihander with a cross-guard in the shape of a cross in with a ring around it and a blue jewel imbedded in the pomel. It's also [[spoiler: powerful enough to match Bercouli's Time-Splitting Sword.]]
** [[spoiler: When he logs back into the Underworld as Subtilizer, his combat knife is converted into a large sword, called the Nihlism Blade in ''Rising Steel'', that he uses against Kirito.]]
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Even more so than Sugou. Gabriel's willing to ''kidnap and murder'' innocent people if it means finding about the nature of the soul.
* CurbStompBattle: Any battle involving him is bound to go in his favor. Case in point, in the first [=BoB=] tournament, he won bringing only a knife and a handgun with him, whilst in the fourth, he won bringing ''nothing'' with him, instead stealing weapons from his opponents.[[spoiler:The only people who were able to stand up to him were Bercouli and Kirito]]. Justified in GGO as he's an experienced soldier in real life and thus can apply real life tactics from the battlefield into the game.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: He was living a very comfortable life with his wealth and would have had a lot of monetary gain from completing the mission to the NSA to deliver Alice, but he's more interested in capturing her for himself and enjoying her soul, as well as creating his own world using the stolen STL tech where he's basically god.
* DarkIsEvil: In contrast to Kirito's DarkIsNotEvil. He plays this more straight than any other villain, being Vecta the darkness based GodOfEvil, as well as having the PowerOfTheVoid.
* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler:Gabriel is left for dead by an InvincibleHero and ends up being DraggedOffToHell by the souls of the dead, with the person he killed in his younger years mocking him. Made doubly ironic in that the latter part is the first time he's ever been afraid, a feeling he's always enjoyed inspiring in others.]]
* DieLaughing: [[spoiler: He's arrogantly laughing as Kirito finishes him off, not considering the possibility that [[UnderestimatingBadassery Kirito could actually beat him]]. He only stops after realizing he's having an out-of-body experience and is about to be DraggedOffToHell.]]
* DirtyCoward: For all of his bragging about being an InvincibleVillain or stealing souls, he [[VillainsWantMercy screams and begs for his forces to save him]] [[spoiler:when he gets DraggedOffToHell]].
* DraggedOffToHell: [[spoiler:His fate after being defeated.]]
* DragonRider: He rides a dragon when he [[spoiler: captures Alice. Fortunately, Bercouli manages to catch up and shoot the dragon down.]]
* TheDreaded:
** As Vecta, all of the residents of the Underworld are ''terrified'' of him, even the Dark Territory. [[spoiler: Kirito himself is unnerved by him when they finally meet.]]
** As Subtilizer, he is feared throughout GGO, especially Sinon who has been haunted by him.
* EarlybirdCameo:
** He was alluded to in the ''Phantom Bullet'' arc as the co-winner of the first [=BoB=].
** He makes his first voiced appearance in the game-verse entry ''Fatal Bullet'', as part of its ''Collapse of Balance'' DLC.
** The anime features him in Episode 1 of ''Alicization'', as leader of the squadron in GGO fighting against Sinon and the rest of the SAO gang. This is a whole two cours before he's scheduled to properly appear.
* {{Eagleland}}: The Boorish variety, and taken to the extreme.
* EnfanteTerrible: Even when he was a child, [[spoiler:him murdering his fiancée and [[PlayingWithSyringes experimenting]] on [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals animals]] to satisfy his curiosity on the nature of a soul clearly paints that he's been pure evil since his youth.]]
* {{Ephebophile}}: Alice is one thing, but his partial obsession with Sinon is arguably creepier seeing as, while he's a 28 year old man, she's only 16 around the time they first met, something he suspected when he killed her in the [=BoB=], [[spoiler:yet he still tries to forcibly kiss her to "steal her soul" when they meet in the Underworld.]]
* EvilCounterpart:
** To Eugeo. Both are blonde boys who lost their ChildhoodFriends when they were young and their lives were dictated by said loss from then on. However, while Eugeo was a poor Wood Cutter who truly cared for Alice and desired to save her, Gabriel was from a wealthy family and not only never truly cared for Alicia, just her soul, but he's also the one who killed her to begin with, with the belief that he saw her soul after he did turning him into a MadScientist SerialKiller who would kidnap people and experiment on them in hopes that he could experience what he did that day. [[spoiler:Even their respective deaths mirror each other with them being TogetherInDeath with said ChildhoodFriends, only Eugeo departs peacefully with Alice while Gabriel is DraggedOffToHell by Alicia and the other people he's killed.]]
** To Asuna as Stacia. Both of them dived into the Underworld as {{Physical God}}s using Super Accounts, with the Dark God Vecta being built up as an [[TheAntiGod Anti-God]] to Stacia. They have opposing goals of Asuna wanting to protect Alice and Gabriel wanting to capture her. However the biggest contrast is, Asuna's use of the Stacia account's godly abilities that allows her to turn the tides in the favor of the Human Empire, while Gabriel as Vecta is mostly an OrcusOnHisThrone with the usefulness of the account mostly just his ability to command the Dark Territory, with most of his fighting done with his Subtilizer account.
** To Bercouli. Both are the BadassInCharge of the Human Realm and Dark Territory respectively, both are god-like compared to most other folk, both assumed command of their forces very recently, and both make it their top priority to keep Alice out of the hands of the others. However, while Bercouli is a FrontlineGeneral who puts his own life at risk, Gabriel for a large part of the war was an OrcusOnHisThrone who left the fighting to his [[WeHaveReserves expendable army]] and doesn't get involved himself until Alice is in his grasp. While Bercouli is still very much human, Gabriel is a true PhysicalGod thanks to his Vecta Super Account, with their fight being an extreme mismatch. While Bercouli was [[YouAreInCommandNow put in charge]] due to the death of Quinella, Gabriel abruptly showed up in the Underworld and stole command for himself while killing Shasta the Dark Knight Commander. Bercouli sees himself as a father figure to Alice and is willing to give his life to keep her safe and wants to reduce as much lives lost as possible, Gabriel only values Alice for the tasty soul which he wishes to indulge in and sends thousands upon thousands to their deaths to achieve his petty goal.
** To Sinon. Both of them are TheAce in GGO and potential winners of the [=BoB=] as well as {{Cold Sniper}}s, both lead unorthodox platoons, and both end up logging into the Underworld using Super Accounts to become {{Physical God}}s. But of course, Sinon is fighting for the force of good and defending the Human Empire, while it is Gabriel who is undermining their efforts by bringing in foreign players as reinforcements. The two even Incarnate in their GGO guns and proceed to have a SniperDuel to further invoke this parallel.
** To Kirito, once he finally returns. Both end up being {{Physical God}}s in the Underworld, not due to super accounts, but from their unparalleled Incarnations. Both have dark motifs, with Gabriel being DarkIsEvil to contrast Kirito's DarkIsNotEvil. While Gabriel plays up the SatanicArchetype, Kirito is placed as the MessianicArchetype who the people put their faith in to defeat Gabriel. Both of them end up [[AnArmAndALeg losing an arm]], but while Kirito Incarnates his arm back, Gabriel replaces it with a shadowy {{Artificial Limb|s}}. During their fight, while Kirito manifests Spriggan wings like for himself, Gabriel opts for bat-like wings. Finally, both took on alternate forms in the FinalBattle, with Kirito Incarnating his Black Swordsman outfit while Gabriel goes OneWingedAngel and transforms into a shadowy HumanoidAbomination vaguely resembling an angel.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Even after seeing the powers of [[ThePowerOfLove love]] and [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship]] on full display, he still sees people only as resources for him.
* EvilIsBigger: Being a mercenary, Gabriel is large and solidly built, and this translates to when he logs in as Vecta, as Underworld Avatars share the real world aspects of their users. {{Justified}} since he's an American, who would be taller than your average Japanese man.
* EvilOverlord: As Vecta in Underworld.
* EvilPlan: Capture Alice and the Soul Translator technology, go into hiding in his Australian house, create his own VR world for him [[GodhoodSeeker to rule as God]], and [[SerialKiller kidnap and murder several people to trap in there]] [[TheCaligula as his "subjects" who he can abuse and torment as he pleases.]] Oh, and [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the Underworld]] [[KickTheDog for good measure.]]
* EvilTastesGood: Whenever he discusses souls, he tends to describe them as if they were food and even tends to use dining-related metaphors, such as him telling Sinon "Your Soul Will Be So Sweet" and [[spoiler: comparing Bercouli's soul to a vintage wine during their duel.]]
* EvilerThanThou: As monstrous as Quinella was, Gabriel manages to be far far worse.
* FauxAffablyEvil: During his meeting with the NSA, Gabriel seems to have a fairly normal, if businesslike, attitude, and Dario Giuliani remarks that Gabriel was well-behaved compared to his men on the ''Jimmy Carter''. Anyone else who has encountered him knows that he's, in reality, a batshit insane, bloodthirsty, megalomaniacal sociopath.
* {{Foil}}:
** To Vassago. See Vassago's folder on [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin this page]] for more details.
** To Sugou. Both are {{Mad Scientist}}s who come from privileged backgrounds, and are [[EntitledToHaveYou obsessed with a girl]] including one they were [[BastardBoyfriend betrothed to]]. Both end up using super accounts with godlike powers, and both are {{Godhood Seeker}}s who desire to trap people in virtual worlds. The difference however is Sugou [[AGodAmI declared himself god]] of the world he had stolen, but is firmly dependant on his admin powers and is otherwise [[UnskilledButStrong completely useless when stripped of them]] while [[DirtyCoward being reduced to a blubbering wreck]]. Gabriel by contrast really only needed the Vecta super account to command the Dark Territory, and is otherwise StrongAndSkilled no matter which avatar he uses or world he is in, as his Incarnation is so overwhelmingly powerful that he may very well be a true god when he is in the Underworld. In essence, while their motives and paths are very similar, Gabriel is a far more competent version of Sugou. If Sugou is a false god, then Gabriel is the '' real deal''.
** To Quinella. While both became a PhysicalGod of the Underworld and were {{Mad Scientist}}s, they are otherwise polar opposites. Quinella wanted to preserve her rule over the Human Empire for all eternity, with a war against the Dark Territory or the destruction of the Underworld opposing her interests, while Gabriel actively pushed for the War due to seeing it as a means to acquire Alice and intended to destroy the entire Underworld once he had achieved his goals so he can remake it to his liking. While both are unable to [[TheSociopath understand the concept of love]] their resulting actions are very different, Quinella interprets love as attempting to control everything and making people her obedient dolls, while Gabriel only saw people for the [[YourSoulIsMine delicious souls that resided inside them]] and [[SerialKiller has killed countless people]] to try and satiate his urges. Quinella was a VillainWithGoodPublicity revered as the benign Pontifex of the Human Empire and embodies LightIsNotGood, while Gabriel as Vecta was a GodOfEvil embracing DarkIsEvil and was [[HatedByAll despised by everyone]] and governed solely out of fear and the Taboo Index. Furthermore, both ended up losing their right arm to one of Kirito's friends before facing him in battle, with Quinella transforming her severed arm into a new weapon, while Gabriel manifested a new shadowy arm through Incarnation.
* ForcedSleep: His ability to suck in a person's Incarnation allows him to force people into unconsciousness. [[spoiler: He uses this on Alice when he captures her.]]
* ForScience: He wants to learn about the secrets of the soul through any means necessary, and is willing to kill innocents to perform this research. [[spoiler:Even his childhood love interest is no exception, since he believes someone like her must have a high quality soul.]]
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He started out as a a typical, if privileged child. Then his father showed him a video that depicted a male preying mantis living after being decapitated post-coital, and things just escalated from there.
* GeniusBruiser: For a deluded SerialKiller, he's fairly knowledgeable in quantum physics, being able to have rudimentary understanding of how the Soul Translator works entirely on his own. He's also quite possibly VR's WorldsStrongestMan ''period''.
* GodhoodSeeker: His end goal is to steal Alice's lightcube to place her in a virtual world of his own design. Afterwards, he plans on kidnapping real world people, killing their physical bodies, and placing their souls in his virtual world too, all so he can manipulate their souls as he sees fit. [[spoiler: He even boasts himself as one during his fight with Kirito.]]
* GodEmperor: As Vector, he is this for the Dark Territory.
* GodlikeGamer: Regarded as [[UltimateGamer386 the most legendary player of GGO]] and his reputation really shows with just how invincible he is on the battlefield.
* GoodWingsEvilWings: In contrast to Kirito’s translucent streamlined Spriggan wings, Gabriel manifests demonic bat-like wings.
* HeroicWillpower: Villainous {{Inversion}}. The reason that Gabriel is such an InvincibleVillain is because of his great deal of willpower, which is the result of his [[YourSoulIsMine delusional belief of his power to take souls]] and his great pride in his abilities[[note]] It's established that in the Underworld, self-confidence can affect the power of the individual and Gabriel establishes himself multiple times as a pretty much a SmugSnake[[/note]]. [[spoiler: Even after losing the Vecta account, which for all intents and purposes should be more powerful, he remains a large threat with just his Subtilizer avatar as his powerful incarnation allows him to mimic the Vecta account's abilities to an extent, generate powerful weapons like an Anti-Material rifle, and take on a OneWingedAngel form to fight Kirito.]]
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler:He kills Bercouli during the UW war.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: When Iskahn introduces himself as the head of the Pugilist's guild, Gabriel expresses silent bewilderment at the idea of a faction of unarmed combatants existing. Bear in mind that this is the same guy who just recently entered the Fourth [=BoB=] completely unarmed, yet still came out the victor. Granted, he partially got by through stealing his opponent's weapon, but he hardly has much room to wonder why someone would enter combat unarmed, especially in a fantasy influenced VR world where he's just logged in as a PhysicalGod.
* IKnowMortalKombat: Inverted. Part of what makes Gabriel so dangerous is that he's an experienced soldier and as such can apply real-life tactics in the [=VRMMOs=] that he plays.
* IcyBlueEyes: His eyes are described as devouring all light. Also doubles as a RedRightHand as it indicates of his sociopathic character.
* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:He rips out Kirito's heart and eats it in an attempt to reap his soul. This works against him when Kirito places razors in his heart.]]
* InexplicablyAwesome: [[AdaptationalBadass In the Anime]], he displays an amazing amount of skill in swordsmanship, in spite of the fact that he mainly played GGO and didn't rely on anything resembling a sword, the closest being his [[KnifeNut Combat Knife]].
* InstantExpert: Despite first having to use them when [[spoiler: he gets into his first actual fight in the Underworld, and it's against [[WorldsBestWarrior Bercouli]] of all people,]] he picks up on the use of Vecta's abilities and Incarnation relatively quickly, [[spoiler: allowing him to nearly deliver a CurbStompBattle to Bercouli before being killed by the Uragiri.]] When he [[spoiler: logs back in as Subtilizer, he's basically mastered the latter, being able to PsychicStrangle a waiting Sinon, turn his cross-bow into an Anti-Material Rifle, create a shadow tentacle to replace the arm he loses to Sinon, and take on a OneWingedAngel form in his fight with Kirito.]]
* InvincibleVillain: Gabriel is by and far the toughest out of all the antagonists. Across his appearances, he has been steamrolling over nearly every member of the main cast, even those with super-accounts, whether via proxies such as [=PoH=] or by himself. [[spoiler:Ironically, Gabriel ends up being outclassed by Kirito despite giving him the toughest fight of his life.]] Fittingly, he served as the FinalBoss of the original web novel series.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He's established to be an uncaring sociopath who sees his soldiers, both in the real world and UW, as disposable pawns. The only time he comes across as sympathetic is his flashback of his ChildhoodFriendRomance with Alicia, and he even seems to be sad that she has to move away and endure a life of poverty. This sympathetic moment is soon negated [[spoiler:when he decides that he doesn't want Alicia to belong to anyone but him, leading him to [[IfICantHaveYou kill her]] and revel in the beauty of her soul. In the end, his "love" for Alicia is really just selfish possessiveness over her soul.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: He's nothing but a ruthless asshole.
* TheJuggernaut: Very few people have ever managed to lay a finger on him, and any fight involving him turns into a CurbStompBattle with him on the giving end, with only [[spoiler:Bercouli and Kirito]] being able to put up a fight with him.
* JustAKid: He thinks that Sinon and [[spoiler:Kirito]] are nothing more than just "brats". [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, the latter is NOT someone who should be taken lightly.]]
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Following his defeat at the hands of [[InvincibleHero Kirito]], the souls of his victims were freed and [[DraggedOffToHell drag him away]]]].
* KickTheDog:
** [[spoiler:In his youth, experimenting on animals, killing his fiancée when he was a child because he believed her soul would lose its brilliance]].
** [[spoiler:Puts Lipia Zankale's decapitated head on display after killing her. This sends Viksul Ur Shasta into an UnstoppableRage and he tries to kill him, though his efforts proved futile.]]
** [[spoiler:The first thing he does upon returning the the Underworld as Subtilizer is to mock Bercouli for sacrificing his life to stop him as Vector]].
* KnifeNut: In the 1st [=BoB=], he's stated to have made a name for himself wielding only a pistol and combat knife. [[spoiler: Said knife is presumably what turned into a sword when he transferred his Subtilizer account to the Underworld.]]
** In the Anime, he used one when he encountered Sinon in the 4th [=BoB=], throwing it at her arm she pulled out her Glock.
* KnightOfCerebus: [[spoiler:SAO was already a dark series as is but Gabriel's introduction makes everything in the series even more serious.]]
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: [[spoiler: Despite his partial obsession with Sinon and that fact that she very clearly pissed him off after destroying his arm and [=XM500=] in addition to charring his face, he decides to cut his losses and take advantage of the fact that she can no longer use Solus' {{Flight}} ability to continue pursuing Alice.]]
* LackOfEmpathy: He cares for nothing but getting the first fully-functional artificial intelligence (i.e. Alice) all for himself, and that's before taking into account all the numerous atrocities that he did before getting to her, such as [[spoiler:experimenting on [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals animals]] to find the nature of the soul, killing his fiancé (the former two of which he did ''[[EnfanteTerrible when he was a child]]''), and leading people he manipulated to their deaths in the Underworld.]]
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: One of his abilities as Vecta allows him to induce this in people by sucking in their Incarnation. [[spoiler: In his fight with Bercouli, he's able to cause the Integrity Knight to suffer brief moments of amnesia in order to make up for the skill gap between them, even [[AnArmAndALeg using it to cut off his arm.]]]]
* LeanAndMean: As Subtilizer, he has thin build compared to his real life counterpart. He is also arguably the most sadistic and ruthless character in the entire series.
* {{Lust}}: Obviously towards Alice and souls but it's ultimately under a greater lust: a lust for power.
* MadScientist: Even worse than Sugou. If Sugou forcing people into mind control experiments was bad enough, Gabriel kidnaps innocent civilians and murders them in his "experiments" to learn the nature of the soul.
* ManipulativeBastard: He's quick to take advantage of his status as a PhysicalGod, and in turn the strongest being, to make the [[TheSocialDarwinist Dark Territory]] follow him, promising them the plunder of the Human Realm when in reality he plans to destroy the Underworld after he gets Alice, them included. [[spoiler: He later has Critter summon American VR players with the claim that the Underworld is a Beta-Test for a new VR game, saying that they can kill all the [=NPCs=] they want, so he can capture Alice in the ensuing confusion and make his escape.]]
* MaskOfSanity: He's a sociopath with a sick obsession with possessing and consuming souls, but manages to pass himself off as a cold, rational leader. His batshit insanity really comes to light [[spoiler:during the final fight with Kirito.]]
* MasterOfAll: {{Implied}}. In the 4th [=BoB=], he entered unarmed and got by solely by stealing weapons from his opponents for his own use, suggesting that he's quite confident in his ability to wield different types of firearms.
* MasterSwordsman: A part of his {{Adaptational Badass}}ery in the anime. Despite primarily handling guns and at best a [[KnifeNut knife]] in GGO, Gabriel proves to be an exceptional swordsman too, managing to overwhelm [[spoiler: Bercoui and later Kirito in melee combat.]]
* MeaningfulName:
** Has two: his GGO name, Subtilizer, which means "thief" in French, and the Japanese version of his GGO name "魂を盗む者", which means "[[YourSoulIsMine The one who steals souls]]".
** This even extends to his real name, Gabriel was [[ArchAngelGabriel one of God's archangels]], while here he's a SatanicArchetype which would make him a FallenAngel who defied {{God}}.
* MightyGlacier: [[spoiler: Bercouli summarizes his [[UnskilledButStrong unrefined sword fighting style]] as Vecta as this; he hardly ever moves from his spot, yet blocks every strike sent at him despite his lack of a proper stance, and his return strikes are extremely powerful due to being a PhysicalGod while his ability to induce LaserGuidedAmnesia creates openings for him to exploit, leaving Bercouli with little defensive options. In contrast, the Anime depicts him as a more StrongAndSkilled proactive LightningBruiser]].
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: When Alicia is being forced to move after her family became victim to a financial crisis, he concluded that the best solution is to kill her to prevent her soul from being "tainted" by any new people she could meet.
* NearVillainVictory: He manages to outmaneuver the Human Empire Army with his elaborately effective {{Uriah Gambit}}s, have [=PoH=] drive the heroes back into a corner by inviting thousands of Chines and Korean players into the underworld and exploit their hatred against the Japanese for all its worth, and would've won by capturing Alice [[spoiler:if it weren't for Kirito's [[CameBackStrong last-minute mental recovery]]]].
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: If Subtilizer's meanings are of any indication, it gives an insight on to the inner workings of his mind.
* NotSoStoic: During his final fight with Kirito, Gabriel's MaskOfSanity breaks apart, revealing what he truly is: a [[AxCrazy batshit insane]] megalomaniac who's truly off his rocker.
* OhCrap: [[spoiler: He actually looks surprised, shocked even, when Bercouli uses the Uragiri to kill him as Vecta]].
* OmnicidalManiac: In his words, if he succeeds in capturing Alice, he'll blow up UW and its people next. [[spoiler: He is only topped by Vassago, who also wants to kill off the demon army he lords over, [[TheStarscream and himself by proxy]], all ForTheEvulz and then some.]]
* OneManArmy: In GGO, he was able to take on a bunch of players using only as little as a knife and a handgun, to just nothing at all, thanks to his Combat Skill, "Army Combatative", which allows him to grapple his opponent and steal their weapon before they can react and use it against them.
* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:While fighting against Kirito, Gabriel transforms into a pitch-black EldritchAbomination with a pair of glowing blue eyes, a dark halo, and three pairs of angelic wings.]]
* PhysicalGod: As Vector, [[spoiler:especially in his OneWingedAngel form.]]
* PlayingWithSyringes: What he did to insects [[spoiler:when he was a child to learn more about the nature of souls]].
* PowerBornOfMadness: In a world powered by ImaginationBasedSuperpower, Gabriel's incredible insanity is the secret to his godlike power, granting him an unrivalled Incarnation.
* PowerCopying: He displays a very high degree of mimicry, taking the abilities of opponents after simply observing them.
** Seeing Sinon use Incarnation to transform Solus' bow into her PGM Hecat, he does the same and transforms his crossbow into a XM500 Anti-Material rifle, where the two proceed to have a SniperDuel.
** Observing Kirito having manifested his ALO Spriggan wings, he absorbs his flying SpiderTank to manifest [[GoodWingsEvilWings giant bat-like wings]], even telling Kirito he stole it from the boy.
* PowerNullifier: His "[[PowerOfTheVoid Darkness of the Void]]" functions like this, being capable of absorbing an enemy's Incarnation and negating the power they were about to use on him.
* PowerOfTheVoid: His "Darkness of the Void", which sucks in a person's willpower and Incarnation with varying
effects, like [[ForcedSleep inducing unconsciousness]] and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia causing brief memory relapses]].
* PragmaticVillainy: [[spoiler: Despite her now being vulnerable with her legs destroyed and Solus' {{Flight}} ability now unusable, he decides that he's wasted too much time on Sinon and continues his pursuit of Alice, even after Sinon [[BringIt tries egging him on]]]].
* PromotedToPlayable: He is a playable character in several mobile games.
** In ''Memory Defrag'' he is a playable unit called "[Cruel Spirit] Subtilizer" which has him paired against GGO Sinon and the two engaging in a SniperDuel.
** In ''Rising Steel'', Gabriel becomes playable in the "Angel of Death" Scout as a [[DarkIsEvil Dark Elemental]] Break Unit with an [[SuperMode Enhance Mode]].
* PsychopathicManchild: While he never displays any behavior that would suggest this, the fact that his power to see souls and consume them in the Underworld stems from the delusional belief that he's ''actually'' capable of doing just that and that he's had this belief since ''childhood and has never grown out of it'' certainly [[ImpliedTrope implies]] that he is one.
* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: The Vecta account comes equipped with black armor and cape combo with red coloring to them, and its user is perhaps the nastiest villain in the series.
* RedRightHand: [[spoiler:The right arm he creates to replace his missing one during his final duel with Kirito is made of pure dark energy]].
* {{Sadist}}: Even worse than the Laughing Coffin (or any villain before him, for that matter). [[spoiler:He began studying the concept of mortality ''[[CreepyChild when he was a kid]]'' by killing his childhood friend Alicia Klingerman, and as he grew up capture, experiment on and then kill innocent civilians for "research" onto souls. And as Vector, the dark god of Underworld, he tortured even more souls (artificial ones, but no less satisfying to him). His prime goal in Underworld though to hunt down Alice - who resembles Alicia - and torture her as well.]]
* SatanicArchetype: His obsession with souls easily parallels the Faustian depictions of Satan, his {{Chessmaster}} abilities parallel some contemporary depictions of Satan as a sophisticated, Machiavellian smooth-talker ''a la'' Music/TheRollingStones's depiction of the Devil from ''Sympathy for the Devil'', and, as Vector, he's a God of Darkness with an EldritchAbomination true form who leads an army of demihumans and monsters like the traditional depictions of Satan. To finish it off, considering that ''Alicization'' was the last arc in the original web novel series and the Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible, if Gabriel is Satan then Kirito is the Messiah who ultimately defeats Satan in the FinalBattle.
* SerialKiller: Given that he's "experimented" on as much as a hundred people in real life since his youth, this gives him one of the highest bodycounts in the series.
* SituationalSword: {{Downplayed}}. In ''Rising Steel'' as [Angel of Death] Subtilizer, his Incarnate Skill deals bonus damage against an enemy when their Incarnation is at 150% or over, meaning it can only be used for optimum damage in when his opponent is charging an Incarnation Skill over a certain percentage.
* SkewedPriorities: [[spoiler: Despite Alice making her way the World End Alter to escape him, he decides to take the time to torture Sinon and take her soul as well upon seeing and recognising her. This backfires on him, as not only does [[TheDogBitesBack Sinon fight back and injure him]], but she's able to delay him long enough to give Kirito and Asuna the chance to catch up to him and Alice, allowing the former to fight Gabriel while the latter helps Alice get to the alter.]]
* SlasherSmile: Rarely smiles, but there's a grim smile on his face in the whenever he's close to getting what he wants, such as getting Alice. It shows his true character.
* SleevesAreForWimps: As Subtilizer, he wears a black shirt that leaves his forearms bare, and he’s basically an InvincibleVillain.
* SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat: Quinella was already immensely overpowered compared to previous villains, but Gabriel cranks up the threat level in further by being a borderline InvincibleVillain.
* SmugSnake: Gabriel fancies himself as TheChessmaster, but his overuse of risky strategies ends up getting his army killed for a fleeting to nonexistent tactical advantage, forcing him or his proxies such as [=PoH=] to to do the job himself. [[spoiler:He's also very dismissive of all of his opponents and underestimates them greatly, which gets his Vecta account killed by Bercouli, gets him held up by Sinon long enough for [[LivingMacguffin Alice]] to reach the World's End Alter, and he even [[DieLaughing Dies Laughing]] out of arrogance when Kirito deals the final blow against him. His arrogance disappears the minute he realizes he's being DraggedOffToHell, replaced by a coward who screams and begs for mercy.]]
* TheSociopath: A high-functioning one, and the most dangerous example in the series. Gabriel is charismatic, manipulative, and wickedly intelligent, even despite his batshit insanity, but is simultaneously utterly bloodthirsty and utterly devoid of anything remotely resembling empathy.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Thus far in the gameverse, [[spoiler:he's still kicking seeing as the "War of Underworld" arc didn't unfold at all compared to canon, and Glowgen has yet to try to infiltrate the Ocean Turtle. It's to the point that ''Fatal Bullet'', which so far is the latest main game in this alternate timeline besides mobile titles, has him appear in TheStinger for the [=DLC=] episodes setting up a future antagonist role.]]
* SpiderTank: He gets a flying platform variation of this when [[spoiler: he logs back in as Subtilizer. He states that it was converted from a jetpack he owned in GGO.]]
* SpikesOfVillainy: One of his pauldrons as Vecta has a horn-like spike protruding from it. He's also pure evil.
* StalkerWithACrush: To his ChildhoodFriend Alicia Klingerman, or more accurately [[YourSoulIsMine her soul]], to the point where he [[spoiler: murdered her in cold blood when she was about to move away, believing that interacting with people other than him would taint her soul's brilliance.]] His attempts at capturing Alice during the ''War of Underworld'' is so that he can use her as a ReplacementGoldfish, planning on making her the queen of the VR World he was planning to trap various other people's souls in.
** Minor example in regards to Sinon. While his focus is largely focused on Alice, his internal narration has him displaying an interest in her after their encounter in the [=BoB=] due to believing that she has a strong soul, to the point that he expresses a desire to trap her in his planned VR world as well. Not helping matters is [[spoiler: when Sinon, as [[PhysicalGod Solus]], confronts him when he logs back into the Underworld as Subtilizer, the way he interacts with her can come off as kind of rapey, with him using his Incarnation to restrain her and attempting to kiss her as the light drains from her eyes.]]
* TheStoic: Gabriel typically presents the front of a calm, collected, and rational leader and usually only raises his voice when commanding the Dark Territory army. However, this appears to largely be a MaskOfSanity.
* StrongAndSkilled: Not only does he have a powerful Incarnation, he's as skilled as one would expect from a modern soldier, as shown in his [=GGO=] fights where he's an expert in using knives and firearms. He is also able to see the weaknesses in Aincrad's unarmed combat style, which puts Kirito at a disadvantage when fighting him this way. However, he's less skilled with swords and other weapons that generally aren't used in modern warfare.
* TakingYouWithMe: He was on the receiving end of this during the Japanese [=GGO=] server's first Bullet of Bullets tourney (the one where he participated with only a pistol and knife). He got blown up by the last surviving player when the latter pulled out and activated a plasma grenade as a "Screw You!" move.
* TearsOfFear: [[spoiler:The "spirit" of Alicia [[VillainousBreakdown really set off the waterworks]] when she chose to banish him]].
* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:During his fight with Kirito, [[SmugSnake he displays absolute certainty in his]] InvincibleVillain status and believes that Kirito won't be able to beat him, even mocking him as Kirito deals a blow [[AllYourPowersCombined powered by the prayers of everyone in the Underworld.]] Not only does he lose, he ends up dying and getting DraggedOffToHell.]]
* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: His GGO avatar is noted to look very average, having a, while not ugly, plain face, typical blonde hair and blue eyes and a build that's not too thin but not too large either. This however serves to make him more unnerving.
* TranquilFury: [[spoiler: It's easy to tell that he's ''pissed'' after Sinon destroys his [=XM500=], [[AnArmAndALeg blows off his arm]], and burns his face with her final attack in their duel. Thankfully, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm he decides to go after Alice instead of continuing the fight]].]]
* TroublingUnchildlikeBehavior: [[spoiler:Killing his friend Alicia Klingerman when he was still a child.]]
* UnderestimatingBadassery: [[spoiler:Oh Gabriel, do you really think its a good idea to underestimate Kirito, just because you're a PhysicalGod? You'll definitely regret it soon enough.]]
* TheUnfettered: He sees everyone, enemy and ally alike, as pawns or stepping stones to his goal.
* UltimateGamer386: Regarded as something of a legend in GGO, being a renowned player and one of the finalists of the first [=BoB=] along with the only player who Sinon has had no hope of beating (with the list including Kirito).
* UnskilledButStrong: Zig-zagged. He possesses the skills and reflexes that one would naturally expect from a IRL mercenary, and while he does make use of them in the Underworld [[spoiler: during his duel with Bercouli to dodge and even block his attacks, the Integrity Knight notes that he doesn't seem especially skilled in sword combat and is largely only able to have the edge due to the Vecta account's ability to [[YourSoulIsMine suck in a person's willpower and Incarnation.]]]]
%% * UriahGambit: Most of his tactics function as this.
* VillainBall: Despite being an IRL CSO of a Private Military Company, suggesting that he has a good deal of experience in combat and in leading troops, his initial attack is simply just him having the Demi-Human tribes [[ZergRush rush the Human Army]] in a frontal attack with seemingly no attempt to learn who exactly he's dealing with or, which causes the initial attack to fail miserably and all but wipe out four of the tribes. It's only after this fails that he relies on smarter plans such as [[spoiler: sacrificing Orc troops to power a dark magic spell that's for all intents and purposes a OneHitKill and using his remaining troops and a bunch of foreign players summoned by Critter to distract the Human Army so he can capture Alice in the commotion]].
* VillainousBreakdown: [[spoiler:As he's DraggedOffToHell after being defeated by Kirito, he breaks down [[TearsOfFear crying and weeping]]. He also demanding to know what he had done wrong, before screaming as he's absorbed into oblivion]].
-->'''Gabriel Miller:''' [[spoiler:This is... This face is... It's mine. W-What... [...] [[VillainsWantMercy S-Stop! Let go! Stop! Stop! S-Stop]]!'' [[DraggedOffToHell Stop!]]'']]
* VillainRespect: He seems to legitimately respect Kayaba as the creator of the revolutionary Full-dive technology, admitting that he would have spent millions to recruit him to Glowgen Defense System in spite of, even because of his criminal record.
* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler:He begs for his men to save him as he's being dragged into oblivion when he's rendered powerless. Unfortunately for Gabriel, his pleas are ignored as he's banished to oblivion.... ''forever'']].
* WeHaveReserves: For him, sacrificing his forces is no big deal. [[spoiler:He even sacrifices 3,000 Orcs to power a OneHitKill Sacred Art and sets up his remaining forces to act as a bait for the Human Army while he captures Alice]].
* WickedCultured: Despite his claims that the body is only a vessel for the soul, Gabriel has rather high-class taste. When we first meet him, he's dressed in a white shirt, grey slacks, and custom-made cordovan leather shoes, and waking up from a nap on an imported italian sofa, and his desk comes with a Norwegian reclining chair. [[spoiler: Later on when fighting Bercouli, [[EvilTastesGood he feels compelled to compare his soul to a vintage wine]], [[ImpliedTrope implying]] he's a connoisseur of sorts]].
* WouldHitAGirl: A repeat offender. [[spoiler:He murders his friend Alicia by stabbing her in the head, brutally kills Sinon in GGO with a chokehold, and strangles Lipia to death, just to name a few examples]].
* {{Yandere}}: [[spoiler:When his childhood friend Alicia is about to move away, Gabriel kills her in his mad belief that he can preserve the brilliance of her soul and keep anyone else from having her. In the present, he seeks Alice as a [[ReplacementGoldfish replacement]] due to their similar appearance and names, hoping that her soul will be just as brilliant]].
* YouMonster: Several characters (like Shasta and Bercouli) have called him an inhumane and pure evil monster.
* YourSoulIsMine: His entire motive. He has no problems "stealing souls" from his victims [[spoiler: to the point of attempting to claim Kirito's soul by cutting him in half and trying to eat his heart during their fight]].
* ZergRush: His tactics can be summed up as throwing all the men at his disposal at the enemy on hopes of overwhelming them, with no concern how many of them die due to his WeHaveReserves mentality.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Vassago Casals]]
-> See the Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin page.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Critter]]
!!Critter
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Isshin Chiba (Japanese), Jon Allen (English)

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/critter.png]]

A hacker under the employ of Glowgen Defence Systems. Brought on the assault of the Ocean Turtle in order to hack the Soul Translator.
----
* TheChessmaster: He orchestrates the syncing of Underworld and real world time. Then he advertises on forums in different countries and unwittingly recruiting an army of foreign players to ZergRush the Human Empire with almost none of them any the wiser to the truth.
* TheCracker: Critter is a criminal hacker and claims to have once hacked into the Pentagon, a claim Vassago uses to mock him when he fails to hack into the Ocean Turtle's network to get Alice's Lightcube.
* DirtyCoward: [[spoiler: He's quick to flee when Brigg is killed and, [[EvenEvilHasStandards while reluctant at first]], he agrees to plant a bomb on the Ocean Turtle and kill everyone in it when threatened by Hans. He's also revealed to have stolen a data chip in hopes of talking the US out of killing him, with no indication that he's gonna bargain for his remaining teammates' lives]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite being a criminal, he's frightened by Vassago's true [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] nature. Of all the Glowgen members, he's the only one shown to be reluctant to [[spoiler:blow up the Ocean Turtle and kill all the Rath members, only relenting when Hans threatens to kill him]].
* EvilCounterpart: His blonde hair, glasses and status as his group's computer expert makes him a rather obvious one to Higa.
* EvilGenius: He's TheChessmaster, Glowgen's resident [[TheCracker hacker]], and handles all of the technolgical side of the mission.
* EntertaininglyWrong: He pokes fun at Vassago for only knowing how to fire a gun in a game, insulting his skills as a mercenary. Unbeknownst to him, not only was Vassago the most infamous Player Killer in SAO. This effectively makes him an actual SerialKiller with quite possibly one of the highest body counts in the world. But before then he was a ProfessionalKiller for the Korean Mafia, meaning he likely knew how to handle a gun.
* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler: When he notices that Vassago's body wasn't with Gabriel and Brigg's in the body bags, he realizes that he never confirmed whether or not he was dead when he found him and Gabriel, just assuming he was dead just by looking at him]].
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He's a hacker and mercenary who wears a pair of glasses. [[EvilIsPetty Vassago]] gives him the nickname "Four Eyes" as a result.
* FreakOut: [[spoiler: Has a minor one when he realizes that Vassago might still be alive]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: He pokes fun at Vassago for, [[EntertaininglyWrong at least from his perspective]], not knowing how to actually fight due to being the "VR expert", but Critter himself is a NonActionGuy who's only there to hack the Soul Translator [[spoiler: and he was quick to flee when Brigg is killed, citing his own lack of combat skill as the reason]].
* NonActionGuy: Villainous example. While he is armed like the other mercenaries, Critter is the only member of the GDS forces to not do any actual fighting. His main role in the War of the Underworld is simply to log Gabriel and Vassago in as Vector and a Dark Knight [[spoiler: and later as their personal accounts, Subtilizer and [=PoH=], and to recruit foreign players from America, China and Korea via a false beta-test recruitment ad]]. He even {{Lampshades}} this [[spoiler: when Brigg is killed, choosing to flee while going on about he's not a soldier]].
* SitcomArchNemesis: He and Vassago do not get along, the both of them making jabs at each other and almost coming to blows before Gabriel intervened.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Despite being a NonActionGuy, he doesn't have a very high opinion of Vassago. He views him as DumbMuscle at best, and just a MilesGloriosus who thinks [[IKnowMortalKombat his skill in simulation combat makes him a badass soldier in real life]] at worst. This leads to him being caught off guard when, after he calls into question the idea of logging in to search for Alice due to the possible language barrier, Vassago reveals himself to be fluent in Japanese. He's also likely unaware of the fact that he was SAO's most infamous SerialKiller. [[spoiler: In the end, after catching a glimpse of his true nature and learning of his apparent escape from death, he's now thoroughly terrified of him and the possibility of his survival]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Hans and Brigg]]
!!Hans and Brigg
!!!'''Hans Voiced by:''' Creator/YasunoriMatsumoto (Japanese), Ben Lepley (English)
!!!'''Brigg Voiced by:''' Creator/YojiUeda (Japanese), Creator/KellenGoff (English)

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fa716c7085786e9dbe48e7797d8217f4.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Left: Hans, Right: Brigg]]

A pair of mercenaries who were partners long before being hired by Glowgen Defense System.
----
* AdaptationalDumbass: [[spoiler: Brigg shooting the time accelerator safety switch. In the Light Novel it was simply because he lost his temper and shot it after failing to pick the lock for it and losing a bet with Hans in the process. In the anime, shooting it was ''his first idea'']].
* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: Hans tries to do this when Brigg is killed by trying to blow up the Ocean Turtle and staying behind so the bomb goes off. He fails]].
* BaldOfEvil: Brigg is shown to be evil and completely bald.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Doubles as EvenEvilHasLovedOnes; these two men have apparently been working as partners for a while and have a good deal of comradery between them. [[spoiler: It's to the point that Hans is willing to lay down his life to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge Brigg when he's killed]]]].
* LethallyStupid: [[spoiler: Kirito and Asuna probably wouldn't even be trapped in the Underworld for 200 years if Brigg didn't shoot the lock for the time accelerator safety switch. This breaks it and causing the time acceleration to reactivate]].
* OhCrap: Brigg's reaction when he notices [[spoiler: Kikuoka shooting at him and Critter]].
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: {{Downplayed}}. The both of them are mercenaries with little qualms with killing. However, Brigg is described as being TheBrute and comes off as DumbMuscle. Hans also is noted to be a bit of a dandy, having a soft face and a styled mustache.
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler: In order to ensure the Ocean Turtle is destroyed to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge Brigg]], Hans stays behind to prevent anyone from disarming the bomb]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Reinforcements '''(SPOILERS)''']]
!! Foreign Players

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/foreign_players.jpg]]

Players from countries outside of UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}. They were summoned by Critter to act as reinforcements for Gabriel and Vassago. And they [[LockedOutOfTheLoop have no actual knowledge of what's going on]].
----

* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Several characters have had trouble pronouncing Death Gun's player name, Sterbern. Both Sinon and Kirito pronounced it as "Stee-burn", while Asuna thought it was a misspelled "Steven".

* SquishyWizard: He's not much of a physical fighter, but he's incredibly skilled with Sacred Arts which are so destructive he can easily be a OneManArmy in his own right.

* {{Slimeball}}: An insecure creep and sexual deviant who sleazes his way up the business ladder and over-compensates his inadequacies and insecurities with expensive suits and slicked back hair. Yeah, Sugou would be right at home with fellow sleazebags [[Film/{{Aliens}} Carter J Burke]] and Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet.

'''Main series''': [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineMajorCharacters Major Characters]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineKazutoKirigaya Kazuto Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAsunaYuuki Asuna Yuuki]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineSuguhaKirigaya Suguha Kirigaya]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineShinoAsada Shino Asada]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAincrad Aincrad]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAlfheimOnline Alfheim Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineGunGaleOnline Gun Gale Online]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineUnderworld Underworld]] ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineIntegrityKnights Integrity Knights]]) | '''Antagonists''' ([[Characters/SwordArtOnlineAkihikoKayaba Akihiko Kayaba]], [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineLaughingCoffin Laughing Coffin]]) | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineBosses Bosses]] | [[Characters/SwordArtOnlineOthers Others]]\\

** To Kirito. [[spoiler: [=XaXa=]]] had a very personal conflict with Kirito for besting him back in SAO and deeming him too unimportant to find out his name. "Death Gun" is delighted at having [[{{Revenge}} another chance]] to even the score with Kirito, taking delight in the fact that Kirito can't remember his name, and that Kirito is now a shadow of his former self by mockingly referring to him as "Black Swordsman". While on Kirito's side, discovering "Death Gun" was an SAO survivor who he had history with opened a lot of emotional wounds that he had tried to shut out, including the guilt he carried over taking human lives. Kirito becomes hellbent on finding out the identity of Death Gun and putting a stop to him before he can take anymore lives. The fact that they are [[NotSoDifferentRemark both SAO survivors who can't let go of their past]], just makes Kirito all the more determined to prove he is better.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: During her and Kirito's confrontation with him, Alice briefly speculates that Chudelkin might be [[NotSoDifferent similar to the Integrity Knights in that he was someone who Quinella manipulated for her own ends to act as her]] [[UndyingLoyalty loyal servant.]] However, she also states that he deserves no pity in spite of this since unlike the Knights, he derived far too much pleasure from his role as TheDragon to the High Pontifex, such as the sadistic glee he gained from putting Alice through the Forced Synthesis Ritual.

* BlasphemrousBoast: In reply to Asuna declaring that God himself will not forgive his depravity, Sugou sneers "There is '''no''' God in this world... [[AGodAmI save for me!"]]