First Troop (Ange) | Other Arzenal Residents & Allies | Misurugi Empire | DRAGONS | Other Characters (Embryo)
Embryo
Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Chris Patton (English)
The main antagonist of the series, Embryo is a mysterious man and all the leaders of the world answer to him. He's referred to as a god by Jill, but prefers to call himself "The Tuner," as he says he has "tuned in" on the universe's resonant frequency. He pilots the Ragna-mail called EM-CBX001 Hysterica. He also hunted down the DRAGONs and captured Aura, the source of Mana, to use her as a means to become a god and remake the world in his image.
- Absolute Xenophobe: He kidnaps Aura, the leader of the DRAGONs, in order to commit multiversal genocide of all life. His backstory in "Beyond Time" further reveals that he's done this before to hundreds of other Earths. With some of those presumably also containing sentient, non-human life on them just to further his own experiments.
- Achilles' Heel: His Ragna-mail, Hysterica, powers duplicates of his real body. Logically enough, Embryo's killed when Tusk and Ange cut his real body in half and destroy Hysterica, respectively.
- Actually a Doombot: He gets shot in the head, stabbed in various spots, hit by a car, sent to a 100-meter fall, and being bombed, and appears in another body just fine every time. Turns out they're duplicates of his real body, which is powered by Hysterica.
- Amazon Chaser: He lusts and simps for Ange because she represents the cultured, yet untameable nature of humanity he so desperately wants to see in everyone. In his own words, he'd rather have a world ruled by “strong, intelligent women”.
- Ambiguously Evil: He wanted to "reset everything", but his backstory about him trying to prevent another world war that would destroy all of mankind, the Norma concept being an accident thanks to genetics, and trying to prevent mass panic that would have erupted from said flaw in the system makes him stand firmly in the Necessarily Evil territory. He ramps up the ambiguity with him performing several Pet the Dog moments one seemingly out of no other reason than he could. Later subverted, when his true colors start showing.
- Ambition Is Evil: His ambition is to create a new humanity without causing wars. He'll go through any means necessary.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: He really wants to marry Ange because she has resisted him so many times. It doesn't work.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Ange, Tusk, the Norma and the DRAGONs all celebrate when he is killed in the finale.
- The Antichrist: While he's pretty close to a God (despite him denying the claim, thinking that "Creator" is more apt), he is actually more close to an Anti Christ figure seen in The Book of Revelation. He granted a substance that gives pleasure to mankind, which in turn made them worship him unquestionably but also very decadent and full of sins, with them too lazy to wash it off, the Mana. They worshipped him like a God when there is another benevolent deity (Aura, though to be fair, she is a deity of another race). By the end of it, he decided that he's done with the world, and then initiated The End of the World as We Know It, without any care of these worshippers. When he is defeated, those who were subservient to him were left in the ruined world whereas those who oppose him were whisked away to a better world.
- Arch-Enemy: The Norma (especially Ange and Jill), Ancient Humans (most importantly, to Tusk of all people), and the Dragons as a whole, consider Embryo as their enemies; Ange and the Norma's Libertas as well as their alliance with the Dragons are to kill Embryo once and for all.
- Ax-Crazy: He intentionally kills off lifeforms (including the Norma, DRAGONs and Ancient Humans) on different Earths. He severs the mana network, merges the worlds together and the Diamond Rose Knights without much regard for the civilians who could get hurt or die. When he unsuccessfully tries to rape Ange for the umpteenth time, he resorts to just killing her and Tusk in cold blood. It's also heavily implied that once he discovered the Multiverse, he wiped out the people already living on dozens of alternate Earths just to perform his experiments.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Constantly wearing a green nobleman coat and pants, he makes short work of anyone he deems unnecessary with style. Just ask Julio.
- Bad Boss:
- In "Necessary", he chokes Ersha to the point that she pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here and abandons the world council leaders.
- In "Eve of Destruction", he abandons the Diamond Rose Knights, including Salia, to their fates.
- The Bad Guy Wins:
- A subverted example occurs at the end of the series. Though he succeeds in merging the two worlds together, everyone besides him makes it out alive.
- One of the endings in the PS Vita game can result in this. Only it's more absolute than it is in the anime. That being said, it borders on him becoming an Adaptational Nice Guy as the universe he ends up creating is that of the series' High School spin-off.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work:
- He kills Julio because he claims he does not want Ange to taint her hands.
- Many Norma want to see the Mana world destroyed. He does destroy it in the final episode.
- Bait the Dog: He baits anyone in their moment of need, wins their loyalty with kind words and favors, and in the end, uses and abandons them.
- Big Bad: Embryo is the definitive main antagonist of the series and a truly terrifying one at that. He nearly succeeded in killing off the Ancient Humans, including Tusk's parents István and Vanessa as his way of ending World War Seven. Stealing Aura also made him the primary target for DRAGON-kind. The Diamond Rose Knights, the world leaders, and the Mana society in general are nothing more than pawns to him. He will also kill anyone who gets in his way.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His Affably Evil status has come into question since discovering that all of his Pet the Dog moments were just him manipulating prospective Ragna-Mail pilots to his side, that he was in a sexual relationship with Salia while having no true love for her (all the while making her think he did), and when Ange continues to fight his advances and influence, he takes the kid gloves off and resorts to rather Squick-tastic methods. Oh, and did you ever wonder why the first Libertas failed miserably? Turns out Embryo essentially raped Alektra's mind and body while her comrades died horribly. And finally, in "Eve of Destruction" he outright abandons his Ragna-mail pilots to die by deliberately teleporting them into the midst of a massed group of DRAGONs and forcing their Ragnamails to fire by remote control. He also ended World War Seven by using Ragna-mails to kill off Ancient Humans, and a montage of him and Hysterica in action in the past suggests that he has messed with timelines other than his own as well. That, and forcing the Norma into lives as Cannon Fodder to farm DRAGONS.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: While he's a capable strategist (his decade-long war with the DRAGON race went quite well for him), his most significant advantage over his adversaries remains that he simply has much more knowledge over the setting than anybody else. The fact alone that he entrusts critical knowledge to Jill and Ange, who have declared themselves his sworn enemies, but also lets them live after that and get away indicates that the man is not nearly as clever as he likes to paint himself. Granted, he just does it because he knows he can't be killed that easily. His biggest mistake, however, has to be not killing the biggest arch-rival and spanner in his plans—Tusk—before abducting Ange. Tusk, who has bonded heart and soul to her and as an Ancient Human, is outside his control. By the time he finally wises up and tries killing the two lovers in cold blood, Ange and Tusk are in his host dimension, and permanently kill him.
- Brain in a Jar: A downplayed example, as while still possessing a fully human body, he offhandedly mentions that Hysterica carries half of his mind. This explains why it never transforms like the rest of the Ragna-Mail do and produces the various clones the cast encounter earlier on. Ange targets the mecha when finally taking out Embryo in the finale.
- Broken Pedestal: For Salia when witnessing that Embryo prefers Ange and that he gave Ange a Mind Rape, and the Diamond Rose Knights as a whole.
- Bullying a Dragon: This seems to be an unfortunate trait for Embryo when dealing with the Norma or the Dragons. It ultimately leads to his downfall when Ange, whom he thought he could easily make a wife out of, resists his advances to the very end.
- The Chessmaster: On a cosmic level. He enacted his Evil Plan to wipe out the DRAGONs to a handful and used the Aura to power Mana for the humans. No one was the wiser for a long time.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He turns on everyone who placed trust in him when he decides that they're a liability or no longer useful. The Diamond Rose Knights and the world leaders found that out the hard way.
- Control Freak: An even bigger one than Jill due to him being the Big Bad of the series.
- The Corrupter: He turns every single Norma who joins his side into pawns... until they realize just how horrible he is. The sole exception to this is Ange, who always resists his advances to the point where she kills him.
- Dark Is Evil: He wears a dark green suit with a gray undercoat and is a villain who doesn't care if countless lives are lost to save his own hide and will ruin people's lives if it means ensuring his outcome for a new humanity comes to pass.
- Death Is Cheap: Ange has managed to kill him plenty of times. However, due to his godlike status, he comes back every single time. At least until "Beyond Time".
- Diabolical Mastermind: He has genius-level intelligence and hatches a scheme to murder millions of people to create a new type of race for women.
- Dirty Business: Kills Julio for Ange, as he puts it, in "Arzenal Burns".
- Dirty Coward: Very much besides cheating death. Best demonstrated in the final episodes of Cross Ange, after his business with Tusk is finished, he abandons his Diamond Rose Knights to be killed fighting the DRAGONs to buy himself time to abduct Ange. Then in the finale, he takes control of Salia and Hilda's Ragna-Mails into attacking Salamandinay.
- The Dreaded: Even Ange is afraid of him especially after her Mind Rape experience.
- Driven to Villainy: Witnessing many wars when he was a scientist is what leads to him becoming the Big Bad.
- The Elites Jump Ship: He creates new worlds only to destroy them when they disappoint him.
- Emperor Scientist: His word is law and in his backstory, he was the leader of a group of scientists.
- Entitled to Have You: He wants Ange to be his queen, and he isn't willing to take "no" for an answer. And after she rejects him one too many times and undermines his plans, he decides to just kill her.
- Even Evil Has Standards: A zig-zagged example. He is very appalled at the massacre Julio ordered against the Norma and he claims that he never permitted any of this. He also tells Ange he is appalled at the complacency of the mana society, who give in to the racism towards Norma too easily. However, Embryo himself is just as xenophobic and sexist as Julio was (if not worse) and wanted Omnicide. On the other hand, his desire of omnicide is also rooted from the trope, he has seen the Mana community grew decadent and we're already shown just how rotten the community has become, what with their rampant racism and prejudice. Of course, when how they acted were devised by himself, it's either this trope or he thought he made a mistake and wanted to make it right next time, but then proceeded to trip every wrong flags that made his points invalid.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His overconfidence and manipulative nature blinds him to the idea that Ange would resist his advances from the get-go, which causes his plans to fail. The thought that Tusk would avenge his parents' deaths never entered his mind either. Most of all perhaps is his use and abuse of Norma as Child Soldiers against DRAGONs, and capturing the latter's leader, would earn the ire of both groups.
- Evil Genius: He always has strategies for his plans, and is a delusional Mad Scientist as well.
- Face–Heel Turn: In his past, he was a well-known and respected scientist with benevolent motives. Then, he witnessed many wars and the rise of the Norma, at which point he decided to create a new humanity and used the Norma and whatever left of the Ancient Humans as scapegoats for the Mana.
- Fallen Hero: He was once a brilliant scientist who turned into an Ax-Crazy Omnicidal Maniac who seeks to destroy all life on Earth, as well as numerous others across the multiverse.
- False Flag Operation: In "Dark Angel of Destruction", he knew the DRAGONs were coming to Earth near the Misurugi empire because he managed to get the information out from Liza. He then forces the transfer of the gate somewhere far away from the empire and into five waiting Ragna-mails.
- Fantastic Racism: He considers Ancient Humans and Normas like Tusk and Ange to be products of a bygone era and would sooner have them dead for it since it's his Berserk Button.
- Fatal Flaw: Embryo's Ax-Crazy sociopathic and lustful behavior proves to be his biggest flaw as by the end of the series, his sanity is completely whittled to the point where he takes control of Hilda, Salia and Sala's Ragna-mails to save his life and tries killing both Ange and Tusk during the climactic Final Battle.
- Faux Affably Evil: He's very polite in public. So is he when he does a Mind Rape on Ange and plans to merge the two dimensions together.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: From a brilliant scientist who wanted to end war and famine to an Omnicidal Maniac who tolerates no deviation and in the world he has created.
- Gone Horribly Right: His interference with human genetics helped create the norma and he tried to suppress it. It worked out for him until Ange teams up with the DRAGONs and the remaining Norma to initiate Last Libertas.
- Gratuitous English: After seeing Ange's resolve especially from her breaking his mind control, there's only one thing he can say in the Japanese version: "Dramatic!"
- Green and Mean: He wears a dark green suit and he's a genocidal kidnapper.
- Green-Eyed Monster: He got very jealous when he awoke to find out that Tusk became Ange's boyfriend.
- Hated by All: Embryo is always despised by everyone outside of Mana society—Norma, DRAGONs, and Ancient Humans. Salia and Chris, who are still loyal to him, found that out the hard way when the former gets called out by Jill in the penultimate episode.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: At the end of the series, Tusk fatally slices his real body vertically in half with Salamandinay's katana.
- Hero Killer: Tusk and Jill repeatedly warn Ange that Embryo is not to be trifled with, and it shows when he can manipulate everyone at will and crush them if necessary. By the end of the series, he's also responsible for Jill's death.
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: In a show filled with DRAGONs, Norma and Ancient Humans, it's the fully human Big Bad Embryo who acts as the true biggest bastard thanks to the sheer reach of his plans and goals.
- Hypocrite: He chastises Ange for allowing Tusk to "violate" her, but he tries to rape her himself when she doesn't comply to his sexual advances.
- If I Can't Have You…: He lusts after Ange and wants to make her his personal trophy. Once Ange rejects his advances for the umpteenth time, Embryo decides to kill her in cold blood. It doesn't work as she and her boyfriend eventually kill him.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Every time he holds Ange captive, it's basically to force himself onto her both in mind and in body.
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: When Ange breaks his control over her and bites him, he really falls for her. Unfortunately for him, this also bites him in the ass when he finally has had enough and just opts to kill her.
- Immortal Life Is Cheap: His ability to respawn after one of his projections is killed allows him to screw with his opponents with great impunity.
- Insistent Terminology: While Jill and almost everyone else would call him "God" and has the necessary powers to be considered one, he would never claim that title because he thinks it's a very crude expression. He would prefer using the term either "creator" or "tuner".
- Invincible Villain: The only thing that can harm him is destroying Hysterica. Ange repeatedly tries to best him, but he lives to fight another day, at least until Ange and Tusk kill him in the Grand Finale.
- Irony: The Norma, whom he created from human genetics, are the ones who would destroy Hysterica and stop the space-time convergent. Double for Tusk, last of the Ancients, who he decried as a primitive ape, yet not only persists, but also kills the last remaining copy of his body.
- It's All About Me: His Evil Plan to cause wars and kill off the DRAGONs and humans begins and ends with his ego.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Whenever he seems to have a remotely soft side, this is always subverted because of his overconfidence and lust.
- Join or Die: Embryo attempts to get Ange to join his side and become his wife whenever he has the chance. Ange refuses, so he plots to kill her but she puts a stop to it.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: After years of almost exterminating species like the DRAGONs, as well as manipulating and threatening the Norma, Embryo finally gets what's coming to him when Ange and her allies kill him at the end of the final episode.
- Kinky Spanking: He spanks Salia in the beginning of "Necessary" as punishment for letting Ange escape.
- Kneel Before Frodo: Kneels down before Ange and proclaims that Ange may be the one he has been looking for a long time.
- Knight of Cerebus: As soon as Embryo is introduced, the show takes a darker turn when he has a notable number of Normas brainwashed to serve him, his disturbing advances towards Ange, and finally his end goal of resetting everything at a cosmic scale.
- Lack of Empathy: He feels no remorse for becoming an Omnicidal Maniac and leaving the Diamond Rose Knights to die.
- Love Makes You Dumb: His obsession with Ange did more than anything else to foil his plans and doom him.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Projects a shield to protect his Ragna-mail.
- Lust: His lustful personality is what ultimately leads to Ange rejecting him many times and eventually destroying Hysterica.
- Mad Scientist: He experimented on a humanity and created the norma in the first place, which he considers them as a mistake.
- The Man Behind the Man: The humans would never have discriminated the Norma and the DRAGONs would never have been used as Cannon Fodder for the Norma if he didn't let them.
- The Many Deaths of You: Embryo goes through a lot of deaths at least until Ange offs Hysterica during the finale of "Beyond Time".
- Meaningless Villain Victory: Even though he partially merged the two worlds, he doesn't survive thanks to Ange and Tusk.
- Me's a Crowd: Because he's using Hysterica, Embryo can create multiple copies of himself.
- Mind Control: Can apparently do this to all the people who can use Mana. Momoka and Emma are no exceptions.
- Mind Rape: He's capable of inflicting debilitating pain or pleasure on anyone. Just ask Ange and Jill.
- More than Mind Control: How he manipulates the Norma for his own ends, by exploiting their emotional vulnerabilities. In order:
- In the past, he used Jill's unrequited feelings for Istvan (Tusk's father) to seduce her, and manipulated her into betraying Libertas and killing everyone dear to her.
- During the attack on Arzenal, he uses Chris' complex of feeling as the third wheel between Hilda and Rosalie, making her think they abandoned her while he saved her, only to abandon her in the finale to save his own hide.
- Revived the little girls under Ersha's care to get her on his side, but refused to do so again when they died the second time, despite being fully capable of doing so.
- Lastly, he uses Salia's jealousy for Ange and Jill's neglect to make her fall for him (ironically in a very similar fashion to Jill herself in the past) and apparently giving her the love and respect she craves for, only to show his true colors when he makes clear he's only obsessed with Ange and has no qualms about sacrificing Salia to escape.
- Morton's Fork: In his backstory, the Norma concept was an accident because he couldn't foresee that problem. Unfortunately, the only two choices he had at the time were to either a: have another mass panic attack concerning about people who can negate mana and thus lead to another world war, or b: have the mana people discriminate the people who couldn't use mana and thus failing at what he's trying to prevent the most. He then chose the lesser of the two evils and thus the current setting.
- Motive Decay: Back in the past, Embryo was someone who once had noble goals: he just wanted to make a peaceful world where there was no war, conflict or even prejudice. On seeing the mana users getting really complacent and self-destructive, Embryo thought that It Is Beyond Saving and maybe he should just restart the world again and do it right next time. But then, lust took over him and he became increasingly more unhinged and seemed to care more about making a harem with Ange on top of the chain and him being the supreme creator rather than his old motives on why he wanted to restart the world in the first place...
- Multiple-Choice Past: Let's just say the timeline of his backstory, as he explains to several other characters, simply doesn't add up, and leave it at that.
- Narcissist: He only cares for himself and treats the people who appease him as expendables who he will happily throw under the bus once their usefulness expires. Lampshaded by Ange at the end of the series.
- Near-Villain Victory: He abandons the world leaders, severs the mana network, kills Jill and takes Ange into his dimension. If it weren't for Ange and Tusk's interventions, Embryo would have won once he merged the two worlds into one.
- The Needs of the Many: The only way he could use and justify the Norma just so the Mana civilization would have peace of mind.
- Never My Fault: Embryo never acknowledges that it's his own actions that caused the Mana society have its violent and mindless tendencies. He also abandons the world leaders completely and leaves the blame for the failure of the World of Mana completely in their hands during the final episodes.
- Not Good with Rejection: When Ange refuses Embryo's advances, he tortures her by forcing her mind to undergo overwhelming pain and then physical need. When Ange tries to escape, Embryo shows his true colors by taking over the mind of her faithful maid Momoka and even tries to fatally shoot Momoka when she resists. Upon the Final Battle, Embryo simply decides to obliterate all of humanity again, coldly rebuking Ersha for caring about others, and tries sacrificing his loyal followers to buy himself time. When he finally has enough of Ange getting in his way, he resorts to killing her in cold blood, but it doesn't work out.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: In two ways. Often times, Embryo undermined his otherwise legit points that could make him a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist by indulging into his darker desires along the way:
- Embryo was a scientist who thought that mankind is always embroiled with war which has destroyed his world. For that, he created a new off-shoot of mankind, which can use Mana and be more peaceful as he willed. It has good grounds considering the devastation caused by the world wars he experienced, but eventually that just became his excuse of playing God without being technically one.
- And then he realized that his creations have become truly decadent and even his suggestion of making the Norma people the pariah didn't fix things. At this point, he realized that the world is beyond saving and only a complete startover will do. But at this point, he already met Ange and lusted over her so much that he wanted her to become the Eve to his Adam when he restarted the world, that the decadence of the Mana people was often forgotten, he just wanted to bang Ange after his godlike powers wiped out everything so there won't be any more rivals or interference.
- Offing the Annoyance: Once he has finally had enough of Ange and Tusk getting in his way at the end of Cross Ange, he unsuccessfully tries killing them both.
- Omnicidal Maniac: He downplays this trope at first, with his initial intentions being to simply kill off the Norma (save a few that would become his army) and the DRAGONS so the Mana civilization can live in peace. By the time of the Grand Finale, we find out that not only has he killed off life on multiple Earths, both in and out of his timeline already. But has plans to wipe out every living being, human and creature alike, on two that still contain life by merging them together. Not even Jill, the Diamond Rose Knights and the Misurugi Empire citizens are safe from his madness. And it gets to the point where he tries killing Ange in order to achieve it. All this because he wasn't pleased with previous attempts at playing God. Needless to say, it doesn't end so well for him.
- Out of Continues: Once Ange destroys Hysterica, Embryo can no longer regenerate. In short order, she and Tusk score the killing blow.
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- In "Arzenal Burns", Embryo kills Julio as punishment for straying away from Embryo's plans. While it was a cruel action, Julio committed mass murder of the Norma and caused Ange to be exiled to Arzenal.
- A zig-zagged example occurs in the finale of "Necessary", he severs the Mana network, but the humans using the Mana power not only ridiculed Ange and the other Normas; they also worshipped Embryo as a god. Additionally, this was also a natural part of his original plan to restart the world as he saw the humans he made grew decadent, but by this time he has suffered a Motive Decay. But even then, this would erect more of a reaction of "they had it coming", even from a bastard like Embryo himself. While he's been their superior, he leaves the blame of the failure of the Mana World on them, even though he was responsible.
- Perpetual Frowner: In the game (due to the limitations of the CGI used). Not so much in the anime, where he usually defaults into either a Slasher Smile or Smug Snake look instead (an example of the latter can be seen in the picture above).
- Person of Mass Destruction: He's more than capable of killing all lifeforms on planets on his own.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: The fact that he expects the girls around him to cater to his every lust-filled whim and nothing more points to him having a massive misogynistic streak.
- Prepare to Die: His speech to Ange after he has heard enough of her rejections is composed of this.
- Psychic Strangle: He telekinetically chokes Ersha before he abandons her.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Though he's a thousand years old and behaves like your typical genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist; his numerous attempts of wooing Ange can be described as if he wants a Barbie Doll.
- Psychotic Smirk: He flashes some evil smirks during the series.
- Rape, Pillage, and Burn: Embryo wipes out entire civilizations just for the heck of it.
- Really 700 Years Old: He has been waiting for thousands of years for a person and thinks Ange may be the one (or so he claims).
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He wears a gray undercoat (which is a lighter shade of black), along with a red tie. He turns out to be the series' Big Bad.
- Red Is Violent: He wears a red tie and is the Big Bad who's willing to destroy everything in his path to accomplish his goals.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: His preferred ranged weapon on foot.
- Royal Rapier: This is what he summons out of thin air when he fights against Tusk. Then he gives it to Momoka who's under his control to kill Tusk though Momoka snaps out of it.
- Sadist: He is a complete bastard who loves causing suffering to others, both in and out of his timeline.
- Sanity Slippage: While he was a psychopath to begin with, Embryo loses his sanity towards the end of Cross Ange. By "Beyond Time", he goes batshit Ax-Crazy to the point that he takes control of Hilda, Ange, Salia and Sala's Ragna-mails to save his life and attempt to kill both Ange and Tusk when he enters his Villainous Breakdown.
- Say My Name: He yells Ange's name as his Last Words when Tusk bisects his real body with a sword, while Ange herself destroys Hysterica into pieces.
- The Sociopath: He cares only for his own glory and in order to obtain it he's willing to cause destruction and death of innocent people across The Multiverse, even children and DRAGONs (and countless other sapient and potentially sentient lifeforms), with no regret at all.
- Smug Snake: He's normally a competent person, but he fatally underestimates Ange and Tusk, who later kill him.
- Stalker with a Crush: Ever since he met Ange, Embryo's become infatuated with her to the point that he wants to have her as an ideal wife. It doesn't work.
- Standard Female Grab Area: To Ange, twice no less. The second time however, she broke out of it on her own while Momoka distracted Embryo.
- The Stool Pigeon: After Julio goes too far for Embryo's intentions by massacring Norma, Embryo snitches on him by informing Ange of his location.
- Story-Breaker Power: He has the ability to always come back to life until Hysterica is destroyed, which is near impossible as it takes place in another dimension. He can also brainwash many characters, turning them against each other and he has a Super Prototype to most Ragna-mail. He only fails due to borderline luck and him being a case of Stupid Evil.
- Straw Fan: Some viewers see him as a satire of Otaku culture, particularly regarding his creepy obsession with his "waifu" Ange's purity.
- Straw Misogynist: His objectifying view of women and his obsession with possessing Ange wind up making up the bulk of his villainous actions, effectively making him this.
- Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: It's all in Tranquil Fury, but the effects are no less devastating.
- Super Prototype: Hysterica is the very first Ragna-mail ever made and only matched by Villkiss.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Singing El Ragna on his Ragna-mail aimed at Julio and his ship was a bit overkill just to off one guy.
- They Just Dont Get It: After initiating multiple genocides in his own timeline alone, treating the Norma as cannon fodder and sex slaves, and "ending wars", that he likely started himself by playing God, thorough wiping out everyone on all sides, he simply can't comprehend why people hate him.
- This Cannot Be!:
- His reaction when Ange breaks from his control. Rather than breaking down about it, he is actually happy that someone actually did that and decided to bow down to Ange and proclaim that she may be the one he was looking for. He also has this reaction when Momoka was able to overpower his mind control to her. Didn't last long though.
- He is surprised when Salia and Hilda manage to regain control of their Ragna-mails after he hijacked them and they proceed to destroy Hysterica's copies.
- This Is Your Brain on Evil: He tries controlling Salia and Hilda's Ragna-mails and attempting to force himself on a former princess after rejecting him numerous times. This proves to be his undoing in the long run.
- Too Dumb to Live: Not only did he try to rape Ange, who rejects his advances every time, but he also tries taking control of Hilda and Salia's Ragna-mails and kill Ange once he's had enough of her constant refusal. This ultimately kills him.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: Embryo's end goal is to abolish war, or so he claims. To achieve this, he commits numerous acts of genocide, initiates a Forever War with the Dragons by kidnapping Aura their leader, to use her as a power source for the "mana" that the society runs on, forcefeeding her the hearts of her people that are trying to rescue her, creating the superstition that the Norma are scapegoats and Unwitting Pawns to fight the Dragons in the war he started, and using copious amounts of mind-control, mind-rape, and Cold-Blooded Torture to keep it all stable, and rewards himself for his efforts by engaging in Gratuitous Rape.
- Troll: How he can casually just appear alive after being killed so many times has him pulling cheap shots and jerk moves on everyone a few times.
- The Unfettered: Nothing will stop him in his efforts to destroy all life on Earth, the whether it's manipulating humans to discriminate against the Norma, initiating multiple genocides in different universes, using the space-time convergence to merge both worlds together, letting the Diamond Rose Knights die, etc.
- Unwitting Pawn: He initially appears to be Julio's pawn after the latter takes command of his armies in "Arzenal Burns" to kill all the Norma. After learning of the prince's true intentions, he kills Julio in retaliation.
- The Vamp: Male example. He uses sex as one of his tools to control his underlings, such as Salia, and Jill in the backstory.
- Viler New Villain: To Julio, sharing his loathsome traits with ever viler goals and pastimes while having the power and intelligence to be far more capable of realizing such and threatening the heroes. Any style, charm, moral intrigue or depth Embryo displayed is ultimately subverted made worse by using it to corrupt many heroines to his side as pawns and toys ultimately to discard them along with any pretenses of care and attempts to force himself on the one he couldn't seduce. It's zig-zagged in that Embryo once had more noble motives, while Julio was simply more petty and simple-minded in his attempt to commit genocide, to the point where the former killed him out of disgust.
- Villain Ball: His attempts to kill Ange, the object of his lust, ends up being his undoing.
- Villain Has a Point: Embryo shares the same mindset that Ange came into: The Mana community he created has gone beyond redemption and only a restart would suffice. It's just the way he's approaching that goal that made everyone with a sound mind put their crosshairs on his head.
- In his route in the game, he brings up another more valid point as he Took a Level in Kindness. Aside from saying that Jill is only acting on her personal feelings instead of the freedom of her kind, he finds Libertus not accomplishing anything in the long run that will result in a Persecution Flip between Norma and ex-Mana users. By then, he has already decided to fix the world instead of trying to remake it in his image.
- Villainous Breakdown: While he was a psychopath to begin with, Embryo eventually loses all his Faux Affably Evil demeanor after the Norma continue to interfere with his Evil Plan. By "Beyond Time", he becomes Ax-Crazy to the point that he takes control of Hilda, Salia and Sala's Ragna-mails to save his life and tries killing both Ange and Tusk.
- Villainous Crush: He frequently lusts after Ange upon meeting her for the first time in "Arzenal Burns".
- Villain Takes an Interest: He is interested in having Ange create a new race with intelligent women. It doesn't work.
- Villain Teleportation: He is the main teleporter of the series and can teleport himself, others (without clothes), and all of his Ragna-mails.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He's seen by the humans with Mana as a god, but is in fact a total psychopath and a mass murderer.
- Walking Spoiler: By the time he is properly introduced, Jill has dropped a ton of exposition on the truth about the Norma, then the DRAGON race. Then he proceeds to intervene directly in the story, making each and every of his actions twist-worthy.
- Wishful Projection: Embryo sees Ange as the ideal individual he nonetheless has under his thumb. Too bad for him that's not how Ange rolls.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Keeps Ange alive simply due to his one-sided love for her.
- Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems with raping, killing or even abandoning a woman to advance his plans, if his experiences with Norma or the Diamond Rose Knights are any indications.
- Would Hurt a Child: He left Ersha's 10 adopted children to die during Ange's first escape.
- Xanatos Gambit: Typically manages to come out of a situation with something he wants. Even though Julio and his fleet were destroyed in the Arzenal siege, he captured or turned at least a couple mail riders over to his side.
- Yandere: His reaction when Tusk tells him that he and Ange had rough sex is of insanity.
- You Have Failed Me: The punishment for failing him is the mandatory death sentence. Julio really asked for it when he nearly commits genocide on the Norma on Arzenal and strayed away from his plans. Embryo's naturally annoyed by this and proceeds to kill him.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He has virtually everyone who has helped him with his plans abandoned or disposed of at some point when he decides he doesn't need them anymore. By the end of the series, he gives up recruiting anyone once Ange rejects him one last time and tries killing everyone instead and start over from scratch.
- You Monster!: Tusk refers to him as the "demon of Heiselberg, resident of a non-deterministic world".
- You're Cute When You're Angry: He says this nearly word for word when Jill reacts furiously to him in "The Right Arm's Past". And there's the way he describes Ange's anger in "Arzenal Burns" that you'd be forgiven for thinking he was hitting on her. He also says this word for word to Ange in "The Survivors".
- Your Mind Makes It Real: If he ever so touches your brain, consider yourself in the palm of his hands. Just ask Ange and Jill before her.
- You Will Not Evade Me: Mind rape, teleportation, mind-controlling mana users and communicating through them... he's nigh-inescapable.
