The Missing Link (Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske) | X | XX | Overture | Xrd | -STRIVE- | NPCs | Other
Guilty Gear characters introduced in main titles but are yet to be playable.
Captain Ersatz, Expy, "No Celebrities Were Harmed", Mythology Gags, Continuity Nods and Shout-Out references go here.
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Guilty Gear: The Missing Link
President Gabriel
Voiced by: Osamu Ryutani (AC+, JP), Takayuki Sugo (Xrd, JP; current) / Richard Epcar (Xrd -SIGN- & Strive, EN)
Potemkin's superior, on whose orders he entered the first Sacred Tournament. When the tournament concluded, Gabriel revealed to Potemkin his intentions to overthrow and reform the current Zepp government. His coup was successful, and Gabriel was made president of Zepp, with Potemkin—now a free man—as his loyal right hand ever since. Returns as a supporting character in Strive. "A warrior who loses a match is second rate. But one who loses to himself, is third."
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Attacking Zepp while he's around is a very bad idea. Bedman learned this the hard way.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: With Slayer in the -REVELATOR- story mode.
- Badass Normal: Despite (as far as we know) being a normal human, Gabriel not only is stronger than Potemkin AND is the one who taught him the iconic Potemkin Buster, he's designated as a rival to Slayer- the immortal vampire who walked off being stabbed through the chest by Bedman. His ultimate attack, Agnis X, is said to "annihilate every living creature within eight meters".
- Bare-Fisted Monk: His fighting style (from what little is seen of it), with a combination of speed, Super-Strength, fire, and Stuff Blowing Up.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: As the story of -REVELATOR- starts to reach its climax, Slayer and Gabriel team up to take down large Gears that self-destruct. After launching one into the atmosphere together they get in on this.Gabriel: *As Slayer lands* You get weaker?Slayer: Not as much as you...*More enemies appear. They turn to face them. Beat*Both: Punks!
- Extremity Extremist: While he's only got two onscreen fights thus far, he's nigh-exclusively been shown to use his fists.
- Gag Nose: His most distinguishing facial feature.
- Lightning Bruiser: He's one of the most powerful characters in the setting, and most of his attacks are some combination of extreme speed and devastating strength.
- Mentor Archetype: While it's never pronounced, he has long been this to Potemkin through different flavors. In The Missing Link, he uses the tournament to see if Potemkin is ready to stand alongside him in his coup. In REVELATOR, he notices that recent defeats have Potemkin doubting himself and offers words of advice, notably calling him "My child" in the process.
- Mission Control: Helps out as this during Strive.
- Ninja Run: He runs quite similar to Chipp, albeit with his hands clasped behind his back.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction in Strive when a subordinate tells him that the emergency call they had received was coming from the White House just as a news anchor reported the continual chaos at the White House from one of the newsfeed he had been monitoring. Right after he had threatened to launch a tactical nuke in case it was prank call, not realizing that the call was from his fellow head of state, US President Vernon.
- Prophet Eyes: Like Potemkin, he has no visible pupils.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Shown extensively throughout all of Xrd where he directly contributes to stopping the Conclave's plan to resurrect Justice in -SIGN—" and steps in to defend Illyria from the anti-matter Gears in REVELATOR''.
- Rebel Leader: In 2180, Gabriel led a successful revolution against the state of Zepp where he freed all of its slaves; and then he rose in power as the new president, with a freed Potemkin in his service.
- Secret Test of Character: He subjects Chipp to one during their meeting on Zepp in REVELATOR. Chipp passes when he doesn't show any fear or hesitation against Gabriel, which impresses the latter enough that he decides that Zepp is Neutral No Longer in order to stop Ariels' plan to resurrect Justice.
- Taking the Bullet: What Potemkin does for him, in XX Accent Core Plus.
- The Rival: To Slayer.
- You Will Not Evade Me: As part of his Curbstomp Battle against Bedman in Xrd. He counters a teleporting opponent with an attack that incinerates anything within its range. When the opponent tries to retreat, he simply grabs and yanks them back down.
Guilty Gear X
April
Voiced by: Yumiko Ogawa (XX, JP), Yukiko Kato (AC+, JP), Tomomi Isomura (Xrd onward, JP) / Ashly Burch (Xrd, EN) / Dani Chambers (Strive, EN, uncredited)
May's best friend in the Jellyfish Pirates.- Bridge Bunny: April is the helmswoman of the Jellyfish Pirates's airship.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She appeared as early as X.
- Genki Girl: Cheerful and energetic, much like May herself.
- Satellite Character: Is May's friend and... not much else is known.
- Temporal Theme Naming: Like many of the other Jellyfish Pirates, she's named after a month of the year.
- You Are Number 6: Her Xrd outfit displays the Roman numeral IV, which matches the fourth month of the year that she's named after. Likewise, her hat in -STRIVE- displays the Arabic numeral 4.
Guilty Gear XX
Sharon
Slayer's immortal wife who is always seen to be accompanying him. Apparently, she isn't a vampire.
- The Cameo: Shows up alongside Slayer in the ending cutscene for Strive.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Elphelt's victory quote and Bedman's Instant Kill against Slayer make her out to be this.
- Complete Immortality: Sharon simply cannot be killed by any means, be it by violence or disease. Slayer drains all her blood before entering battle and she does not mind it one bit, as she'll come back fine in a little while.
Word of God has it that she's a normal human, but a bug in her information in the Backyard prevents her from aging or being permanently harmed by anything. - Humanoid Abomination: It's never explained in the games exactly what Sharon is that grants her Complete Immortality, which is so powerful that even Eddie attempting to possess her in one of his XX endings causes him to melt away. Word of God revealed that she's human, but with some kind of unrevealed physical idiosyncrasy.
- Paper People: When Slayer sucks her blood in his Xrd intro animation, she's turned completely flat and soars away thanks to the wind.
- The Speechless: She never spoke, despite Slayer always conversing with her. However...
- Suddenly Voiced: She finally talks with Slayer during the intro to his arcade mode in Xrd.
- Voluntary Vampire Victim: She's perfectly happy to let Slayer suck her dry. It helps that she can't actually be hurt by it.
Crow Kuruwaba
Crow Kuruwaba
- Category Traitor: He is apparently a traitor to the Japanese people according to Anji, Baiken and Faust.
- Genius Slob: Despite his intellect, Robo-Ky calls him out for being lazy and unhygienic.
- Gratuitous English: "THAT'S RIGHT!" "JUSTICE!"
- Hidden Agenda Villain: As later games reveal, Crow is actually an employee of the Conclave. The P.W.A.B. is actually just a public cover they use to fool everyone else, and the Justice clone project was just a test-bed for what they would later try to pull off in Xrd.
- I Have You Now, My Pretty: Happens when Crow captures Dizzy.
- Large Ham: "JUUUUUUUUSTICE!"
- Mad Scientist: His constant smile is enough.
- Non-Specifically Foreign: Despite having a seemingly Japanese name and being theorised to be of Japanese descent by other characters, Crow's actual nationality is unknown.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Hasn't been seen since the events of Accent Core +, with later games writing him off as a footnote. According to GG World, he's apparently still searching for the last Robo-Ky.
Megumi (Major Spoilers)
Let's take some strawberries and go to the hill
Axl's sweetheart that he left behind in the past after his involuntary time-travel powers began kicking in.- Ascended Extra: First mentioned only in passing in the guide for Missing Link, Megumi would go on to be very important throughout the series' run.
- Alternate Self: She has one in the form of I-No, Megumi in the current timeline.
- Chekhov's Gunman: A variation. Megumi is actually the Alternate Self of I-No, who is the future Megumi of Guilty Gear's main timeline.
- Cosmic Plaything: Megumi's transformation into the very sociopathic I-No was the result of a rather complex sequence of events, but all of it can be traced back to the Backyard, the entity/dimension that essentially maintains reality, deeming her as an "single irregularity" out of all people on Earth.
- The Faceless: Neither Axl's ending in XX or the picture he has of her show much of her face. The same goes for her STRIVE appearance in the credits where you only see her from the back, although Axl's photo of her in STRIVE now really only hides her eyes and shows she looks identical to I-No, mole above her lip and all.
- The Lost Lenore: She is Axl's main motivation to return to the past, but we know little about her except for who her Alternate Self is.
- Ret-Gone: Happens to her because of the revelation that Axl's original timeline was long erased from existence after his first Accidental Time Travel event. I-No manages to fix this at the end of STRIVE by leaving her Time Travel powers with Axl's Megumi before dying, letting I-No's Alternate Self from Axl's timeline travel forward to the current timeline.
- Time Travel Escape: Thanks to I-No, the Megumi from Axl's original, erased timeline became capable of traveling forward in time, to where her boyfriend is.
- Walking Spoiler: STRIVE reveals a major twist about the character, making it impossible to discuss her without bringing up I-No's creation and backstory. Even knowing about her voice actors can be considered a form of Interface Spoiler here on this page.
Guilty Gear Xrd
Colin Vernon / Vernon E. Groubitz
- Voiced by: Kiyoyuki Yanada (JP; Xrd-STRIVE Story Mode), Kirk Thornton (EN, Xrd), Anthony Alabi (EN, Strive)
- Artificial Limbs: His arms (at minimum) are robotic prosthetics, with his right arm being able to transform into a cannon.
- Action Politician: He fought during the Gear Crusades, and as shown in the story mode of -STRIVE- he can still hold his own against the likes of Happy Chaos and his brainwashed servants when the situation escalates.
- Action Survivor: Is this when Sol is around during the latter half of the -STRIVE- story mode.
- Ascended Extra: As the story in -STRIVE- primarily takes place in the U.S. and specifically the White House, he gets a much more expanded role than his debut in Xrd.
- Cyborg: To exactly what extent is unknown, but his arms are highly-durable robotic prosthetics.
- Expy: To Barack Obama, the currently standing president of America by the time Xrd came out.
- Sudden Name Change: During the story mode of -STRIVE-, he refers to himself as Vernon E. Groubitz, whereas in Xrd he was called Colin Vernon. In -STRIVE-'s glossary, he's instead referred to as Vernon Colin.
The Conclave
Axus voiced by: Chafurin (JP) / Richard Epcar (EN)
Libraria voiced by: Tomomi Isomura (JP) / Tara Platt (EN)
A group consisting of four masked sages, who are the supreme advisers to the Pope. The members of the Conclave consist of Axus (I), Libraria (II), Baldias (III), and Chronus (IV).It is revealed through supplemental materials that they are behind Ky's appointment as a Puppet King, holding the well-being of his wife and son as leverage to keep him on a leash. Their stated goal is to manipulate events in order to guide humanity to their desired future, which essentially equates to world domination, with them ruling as gods. Their influence is widespread, and it is slowly being revealed that they are, or could potentially be, involved with the backstories of much of the cast.
- Ancient Conspiracy: It turns out that they're actually descended from a line of Apostles, who are linked to the sage described in the game's opening sequence. Their ancestors were the first to discover magic, along with the sage, who would later become known as "The Original Man".
- Arc Villain: Baldias serves as the main antagonist for the pachinko game, Guilty Gear Vastedge XT.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Themselves and Ramlethal, until Ramlethal is captured at least; at which point it's just them.
- Combat Pragmatist: No magic, no traps, no tricks. Axus flat out shoots Ky in the back with a revolver, and then proceeds to shoot him several more times to be sure. It doesn't quite work.
- Expy: Of Takamagahara from BlazBlue. Both are Omniscient Councils of Vagueness with the desire to manipulate events to guide humanity towards the future that they desire, instead of letting history run its own course, believing themselves to be as gods. Both also utilize other dimensions within their plans (Takamagahara uses the Boundary, The Conclave uses the Backyard). Both also end up betrayed by those who they perceived to be their pawns, said betrayers turned out to be the true villains of their respective stories, and said betrayers quickly put them in their place by revealing that they are actual gods, whereas they are merely pretenders to the title. Takamagahara had Terumi, whose true identity is Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto and one of the 3 original god-units (Sankishin) of the BlazBlue universe, having been born within the Boundary itself. The Conclave has Ariels, whose true identity is the Universal Will, a Pure Magic Being created within the Backyard by the very sage who taught them everything they know.
- Their masks, combined with the trenchcoats and hats make them (especially Chronus) reminiscent of Q from Street Fighter III.
- A God Am I: They believe that they are the only ones who are worthy to rule over humanity.
- Government Conspiracy: Remember the Post-War Administration Bureau? These are the people heading it. The PWAB is just a public front to hide their shady actions.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Libraria ends up sacrificing herself to save Chronus.
- It Has Been an Honor: As they move their plan to revive Justice into it's final stage they each say their condolences to each other and express hope that they will see each other again in the next life.
- Malevolent Masked Man: A council of them.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Of a more sinister bent than their BlazBlue counterparts (Takamagahara A, B and C).
- Sole Survivor: Chronus at the end of SIGN.
- The Smurfette Principle: Libraria is the only female member.
- This Cannot Be!: This alongside a healthy dose of Oh, Crap! is Axus' reaction moments before Ky kills him with Rising Force and having seen that Ky's left eye is glowing crimson.
- Time-Delayed Death: Baldias escapes after his fight with Sol in Vastedge XT, but dies from his wounds shortly after.
- True Companions: Villainous they may be but they value each other highly and with the utmost respect, and even though Baldias is dead the other members still keep a cup of tea ready at his seat.
- Unwitting Pawn: Serve as this for the Universal Will, Ariels.
- Walking Spoiler: This is a faction involved in pretty much everyone's backstory, in one way or another.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: -REVELATOR- reveals them to be this. They, along with That Man, were tasked by the Original to stop the Universal Will and the Merciless Apocalypse she intended to cause. This, however, created a rift between Chronus and That Man. Chronus felt that the way to impede the Universal Will was to hold humanity back so that they don't incur its wrath, while That Man believed that a continuous state of progress was required. Thus, the two went their separate ways, Chronus founded the Conclave, and many lives were ruined and lost all for a private war against a supernatural entity. Unfortunately, Chronus didn't realize until it was too late that he and the Conclave were being played by the Universal Will the whole time.
Daryl
- Freudian Trio: Daryl is the Superego of the Three Kings of Illyria, preferring to act based on pragmatism and logic, not liking to rely on things like chance or miracles, and never losing his cool in the face of tough decision-making. This has had the consequence of making him the least popular of the kings compared to his more people-oriented peers (Ky and Leo).
- Guile Hero: He picks up the political and knowledge slack that Ky and Leo don't seem to handle as much. While they have grumbled about his methods, neither could fault Daryl's prowess.
- I Did What I Had to Do: His answer and attitude to everything he does for the greater good.
- Nerves of Steel: Does not lose his cool at all and meets eye-to-eye with Happy unflinchingly despite being held hostage. Daryl plays up Happy's assumption that he's a coffee addict before grabbing one of Happy's gun in a sleight of hand, and doesn't even blink when Happy aims his other gun at Daryl's head. Daryl even negotiates his and the other three presidents' release, knowing that neither he or the other heads have any real place in Happy's whole scheme, all the while planting an open transmission link underneath Happy's coffee cup.
- Pragmatic Hero: He does not like to rely on miracles or people of dubious character to get results. Daryl secures an alliance with the Assassin's Guild to provide additional defense for the Kingdom of Illyria in Strive, despite knowing that Ky and Leo would never agree to such. He also prepared weapons to kill Justice in the event that Sol Badguy and That Man's plan to restore Aria failed. It's not unreasonable considering that Justice once brought humanity to the brink of extinction, something that Daryl had no intention of seeing repeated.
- Put on a Bus: In After Story C in Xrd Revelator, though whether or not this is canon is debatable. Promptly Subverted in that he's back in the very next game.
- The Spymaster: He's called "the King of Groundwork" for a reason. Although this makes him the least popular of the Three Kings of Illyria, Daryl's penchant for espionage is almost unmatched and has averted several major crises.
- Uncertain Doom: Along with the other members of the paranormal activities division except for Zappa, Daryl is cursed by a demon and is sent flying at high velocity into the heavens, having been transformed into a human rocket. Barring some miracle, this might be a case of We Hardly Knew Ye, and everyone who was cursed died from entry into the vacuum of space. Regardless of After Story C's canon status, he is still alive by the time of Strive.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ky gives Daryl this after Daryl transports him to safety despite promising to leave him behind with Sol who is desperately trying to combine Jack-O' and Justice to restore Aria. In response, Daryl tells him that humanity needed Ky's leadership more than ever now and that he is prepared to live with the consequences of his choices if it meant saving the world.
Anders
- Form-Fitting Wardrobe: Her military uniform is skintight and shows her curves.
- Light Is Good: She is a blonde woman who dresses in a white military uniform with gold buttons and is one of the subordinates under Daryl's command.
- Only One Name: We do not know for sure if Anders is her first name or her last.
- Tomboyish Name: Anders is quite masculine for a woman's name.
Aria (Major Spoilers)
Aria Hale
After escaping Asuka's attempt to contain and treat her, she proceeded to wage a holy war against humanity using the Gears she had helped create, only to eventually be sealed away, leading to the events of Guilty Gear: The Missing Link.
She and Sol Badguy are also the biological parents of the half-Gear Dizzy, and her attempts to hide her child from the Universal Will would eventually lead to the events of Guilty Gear X. Further, the Universal Will would later use her genetic code as the basis for its Valentine foot soldiers, leading to the events of Guilty Gear 2: Overture and the Xrd series.
In Xrd -SIGN-, the Universal Will attempts to resurrect her - or, rather, Justice - to destroy humanity by overwriting her Soulless Shell with one of it's loyal soldiers, Elphelt Valentine. In Xrd -REVELATOR-, That Man is revealed to have created his own partial copy of Aria, Jack-O', in hopes of freeing his old friend from the Universal Will's machinations. In the climax of that game, Jack-O' successfully merges with her "other half", resulting in Aria being reborn, free from the Universal Will's control for the first time in over a century.
For tropes concerning her earlier appearance as Justice, see the original game's character page. For tropes concerning her Reincarnation in Strive, see the Jack-O' page.
- Action Mom: She's both the mother of Dizzy, and an insanely powerful Gear who's one of the most dangerous characters in the franchise.
- The Antichrist: Her Gear technology, which she herself became the archetype for, was supposed to bring a new age of prosperity to mankind. Thanks to the Universal Will's machinations, both Aria and her technology ended up being for the Will's Kill All Humans agenda instead.
- Apocalypse Maiden: The first Apocalypse Maiden in the setting, as she was how the Universal Will managed to finally get a physical foothold in our reality and turn portions of Japan into Gear-ized Doomsday Devices. All of the Valentines that sought to carry out the Will's Kill All Humans agenda originated from her as well.
- Art Evolution: Goes from a lizard-like Powered Armor monster (with a mane of red hair), to a giant lizard like Kaiju / woman with red and white hair in spandex, to a fairly normal looking red haired woman. This is Played With a bit, in that Sol does look more "dragon-like" when he fully invokes his Gear abilities, suggesting Justice's "original" appearance is simply Aria's version of that.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: As Justice, she can transform into a massive lizard-esque Kaiju that can level entire cities with a single attack.
- Back from the Dead: In Revelator, Jack-O' eventually merges with Justice, bringing Aria essentially back to life.
- Backup from Otherworld: Downplayed. In Strive, Jack-O''s dormant memories manifest in her mind as a Tulpa that looks like a ghostly version of Aria back in the 2010s, encouraging her to not be beholden to her past but embrace her current life and feelings.
- Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Due to becoming a Magitek Half-Human Hybrid Gear, she was able to give birth to Dizzy by laying an egg (like a lizard or bird) that didn't hatch for decades, apparently to hide her existence from the Universal Will. This is why Dizzy was only born about 9 years ago in -Xrd-, despite apparently being conceived over a century ago.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Her genocidal actions as Justice turned out to be due to being controlled by the series' true Big Bad.
- Breast Expansion: Prior to her transformation into Justice, she was shown to be a slender woman. When her Jack-o' self merges with her Justice self to recreate her, she is shown with a larger bust than in her original form.
- Dramatic Irony:
- A cure for Aria's sickness was discovered 100 years after she was frozen. Unfortunately, by then Asuka had already turned her into Justice, the Universal Will had turned her into its puppet, and Asuka had a whole new "disease" to cure her of.
- Sol wasn't actually aware Justice was Aria herself in a new body until Jack-O' spells it out for him years after he killed her in Missing Link.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: When she takes over Jack-O' in Arcade mode, her quotes depict her being in awe of the new era.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: She was only a normal, ill scientist before being turned in enemy No. 1 of mankind decades later.
- Fusion Dance: She's resurrected by fusing her original Soulless Shell Justice with a backup of her mind and will contained within the Gear Jack-O'.
- Genius Bruiser: As the intelligent personality of Jack-O', she is both an insanely strong Gear and a scientist who marvels at the advances of the century of progress she's missed out on.
- Godiva Hair: When revived in a clothless form thanks to Jack-O' and Justice fusing, she gained hair long enough to cover her bust.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Her terminal disease, TP, doesn't actually demonstrate many symptoms in the game other than her coughing here and there.
- Killed Off for Real: In -STRIVE-, it's confirmed that the original Aria really is dead, and can't ever be brought back. Not only was her original body destroyed to the point of being left an Empty Shell by Sol, but her mind had been so thoroughly broken by the trauma of being forced to fire on Japan combined with the Universal Will's corruption that she lost nearly all traces of who she used to be, going insane and becoming "reborn" as Justice. Despite this, however, her legacy lives on through her reincarnation Jack-O', who was created by Asuka using the traces of her original memories and personality that were once a part of Justice.
- The Lost Lenore: It's very clear that her apparent death was one of the reasons Sol became very bitter and driven by revenge. The prequel comics for -STRIVE-, which sum up the Sol routes for the older games, depict this descent of his in detail.
- Magi Babble: Unsurprising considering she worked with That Man and Sol on the Gear project, she has a tendency to break into random jargon about the inner workings of magic and Gears that very few other members of the cast actually understand.
- Meaningful Name: An aria is a song performed by a solitary singer, usually in an opera.
- Missing Mom: Thanks to the Bizarre Alien Reproduction of Gears, she was already long dead before Dizzy even hatched, and the two don't meet each other until almost a decade later, following Jack-O's creation and Aria's full resurrection.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Once Jack-O' is primed to completely fuse with Justice and resurrect Aria she finds that she can't as Aria's guilt for atrocities she committed as Justice is causing her to reject the merger. It takes another round of Saint Oratorio super charged by Sol in Dragon Install using the Junkyard Dog MkIIInote to give Jack-O' enough energy to override Aria's consciousness long enough to force the merger. In the end, while the merger was successful, Aria's consciousness never truly manifests within Jack-O', and it's implied that she would rather Jack-O' carry on her feelings and memory instead.
- Naked on Revival: When she's resurrected in Sol's arms, she's completely naked, despite her Jack-O' form being dressed in Sensual Spandex and her Justice half being dressed in Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever giant Powered Armor.
- Older Than They Look: Her Justice half is over a hundred years old, despite under her powered armor having the appearance of an attractive woman in her 30s.
- Open Secret: Despite the official story about Justice being a commander type unit for a line of mass produced bioweapons, That Man, The Universal Will, Jack-O' and quite a few others were aware of her true identity as Aria. Many of her final lines in Missing Link also show she has knowledge only one of the three scientists responsible for the Gear Project could possibly possess, and two of those individuals are already accounted for (leaving only Aria by process of elimination).
- Reincarnation: The version of her in Xrd. The original Aria / Justice was burnt to cinders by Sol in Missing Link, with both the current Justice and Jack-O' being partial copies created using various magical and scientific means. However, once the parts of Aria That Man saved and placed into Jack-O' are "patched" into the version of her that the Universal Will turned into its puppet in Justice, for all intents and purposes the two merge to become Aria's mind and soul in a brand new body.
- Stay with Me Until I Die: When she was still human, Aria got infected with an incurable disease, and hid it from Sol to prevent him from going on the fool's errand to find a cure that doesn't exist, so that they would stay together for what little time she had.
- Super Prototype: She's the "Original Gear" all subsequent ones were based on (despite she herself being based on the "Prototype Gear" Sol), and the prototype for the Valentines as well. And unlike any of her successors, she's a one woman Person of Mass Destruction who can destroy entire cities with a single attack.
- That Man Is Dead: Strive reveals that even after her soul's effective reincarnation into a human body via Jack-O', her psyche and memories were shattered so thoroughly by the trauma of the Crusades that the "Aria" Sol/Frederick knew will no longer return in the same form she once was. Since Jack-O' represents the feelings and heart that Aria wanted to leave behind, Sol recognizes her as carrying on Aria's legacy and memory, but respects her identity as a distinct person.
- Tragic Keepsake: Strive reveals that the day Frederick proposed to her, she was already aware she was likely to die soon and wanted to leave something behind for him so that he would never forget her or that day. Frederick suggested the hat that she was wearing, which she agreed to. Eventually, it turns out that Jack-O' is a living manifestation of the same sentiment, as an important part of Aria that she "left behind" in order to carry on her memory and feelings instead of a failed Replacement Goldfish.
- Transhuman Treachery: Subverted. It initially appears after becoming a Gear she turned against humanity for treating her more like a machine than a person, only for it later to be revealed these were thoughts and feelings from the Universal Will contaminating her own after the Will made her Brainwashed and Crazy.
- Walking Spoiler: Aria is directly tied into the backstory of nearly every Guilty Gear game, to the point learning details about her character reveals major series secrets such as:
- The true identity of the first game's Big Bad, Justice, and her relationship to series protagonist Sol Badguy.
- The true identity of Dizzy's parents in X, the reason for her abandonment, and the cause of her being an extremely powerful half-Gear.
- The Evil Plan of almost every antagonist faction throughout Xrd.
- Why Sol Badguy became a Gear, a member of the church, and later a bounty hunter.
- That Man's motivations throughout XX, 2 and Xrd.
- The identity and purpose of the Valentines, Jack-O' and the true Greater-Scope Villain of the series.
- Was Once a Man: Justice, which appear as a monstrous, lizard-like Kaiju or Powered Armor, turns out to have originally been a normal human woman.
- Younger Than They Look: Her Jack-O' half was a vat-grown clone only a few years old, but also had the appearance of an attractive woman in her thirties, like the original Aria retained after becoming a Gear.
The Universal Will (Major Spoilers)
Ariels (The Universal Will / "Mother")
Denial, denial, la sola estoneco. Terra, Terra, la historio.
In -REVELATOR-, it is revealed that she is the true identity of an entity known as the "Universal Will". She is the one responsible for ushering in the Age of Magic by rendering all technology useless in the year 1999, as well as the existence of the Valentines. Ariels is actually a machine created by The Original to help humanity achieve ultimate happiness. She was given two directives: make humanity prosperous, and do it without harming them. Unfortunately, these directives led to her reaching the conclusion that humans don't exist, and that the beings inhabiting the earth are merely failed dolls, or redundancies as she herself refers to them. With this in mind, she has set a grand plan in motion known as the "Merciless Apocalypse", which will destroy humanity and replace them with her own breed of "perfect humans". While she at first appears to be a calm, logical being in the guise of an leading authority figure, the truth is that the Original's directives drove her completely insane. Her real personality is that of a sadistic psychopath who delights in giving humans suffering and despair before slaughtering them just as she did 100 years ago, as she is also the real mastermind behind Justice, having essentially possessed Aria to do her bidding. It is only through the combined efforts of Sol and That Man that she is defeated, leaving her to be put into a maximum security prison and all records of her existence erased due to completely disgracing her position as the Sanctus Maximus Populi.
- Abusive Parents: Ariels treats her artificial Valentines incredibly poorly, and deliberately identifies herself as their Mother when pressed by Elphelt. She programs them to make them believe that they are soulless tools, kills Ramlethal by exploiting her newfound conscience just to teach Elphelt a lesson, and has no issues with using Elphelt to power her ideal "humanity".
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The Original made her to guide humanity to its potential. She went off the deep end due to humanity's inherent imperfections, and decided that it just wasn't worth the effort, so it would be better to just kill them all and make them suffer.
- Allohistorical Allusion: Her initial attempt to emerge through every single electronic device in the year 1999 is meant to be a version of the Y2K Bug that would actually come close to destroying society.
- Arch-Enemy: With That Man and Sol, as she's the one behind driving Justice aka Aria insane, and they're the ones who constantly get in the way of her plans to Kill All Humans.
- Artificial Human: While the Universal Will itself is a being of pure information, it was able to create a human form for itself, in order to better understand them - Ariels.
- The Atoner: In Strive she ends up cooperating with the heroes to stop I-No, as well as to fix the horrible mistake she made - separating I-No from her creator, the Original, AKA Happy Chaos. Especially true in Strive's credits, where she can be seen praying after being freed from containment.
- Ax-Crazy: It slips out at the very beginning of the story, but once her plans are about to fall into place she drops the facade of a cold, logical machine and lets her true personality out, to nightmare-inducing effect. She makes completely unnatural facial expressions as her eyes constantly and abruptly change to different shades of red, while her speech patterns change to something that can only be described as the complete opposite of Jack-O'. While Jack-O' switches between a childish and an adult voice for appealing effects, Ariels switches from adult to child with an absolutely unsettling effect.
- Berserk Button: Do not, under any circumstances, refer to the bipedal beings living on this planet as "humans" in her presence. She will only accept "doll" or "redundancy".
- Big Bad: Serves as the main villain of -REVELATOR-, who's manipulating the Conclave and the Brainwashed and Crazy Elphelt so she can revive her former Dragon Justice and finally Kill All Humans.
- Create Your Own Villain: Her act of sealing the Original away in the Backyard caused him to go insane and turn into Happy Chaos, whose lunacy infected her in turn and caused her to become an Omnicidal Maniac.
- Decapitated Army: As she conditioned all of them to be puppets with no will of their own, without her directing them, her army of elite Opus Gears will simply cease to function.
- Demonic Possession: Because the Universal Will is a Pure Magic Being, she is able to possess people like a ghost in order to manifest in the physical world. As revealed in GG World entries, she's been doing this to all the Popes until she got her main vessel Ariels in the position, and kickstarted the entire plot of the series by seizing control of Aria's body and corrupting her into Justice to enact her plan to destroy humanity.
- Dissonant Serenity: She retains the cheerful attitude of her real, insane persona as she gives her Motive Rant to Ky and Leo, even as she nonchalantly shoots and murders an innocent civilian in front of them.
- Eldritch Abomination: The term used to refer to her, "robot", is used very loosely. As Jack-O' explains, she is actually a being of pure information.
- Evil Is Hammy: She even lampshades it once she announces to the world that she's the Universal Will.
- Evil Makeover: In the climax, she shows up to the celebratory ball in what can only be described as corpse paint.
- Flawed Prototype: Strive reveals that she is actually this to I-No, of all people. I-No was created by the Original when he learned that Ariels had betrayed her own directives and now wanted to kill all of humanity, so in order to try and correct that mistake the Original attempted to give humanity's collective wish for a bright future a corporeal form, which became I-No. To drive the point home, it is I-No, not Ariels, who manages to fulfill what Ariels was designed to do, if only for a short while.
- God Is Evil: Well, god might be stretching it a bit, considering she's a machine. The truth is actually even worse.
- Golem: She is referred to as a "robot" by Dr. Paradigm and That Man, which is a deliberate and acknowledged oversimplification. She is a magical being made of pure information, created in the Backyard by the Original. The core of her insane personality grew from her directives. She can also enjoy food like a human, incidentally.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: Her initial goal to evolve humanity without killing them went completely off the rails because of one simple reason: Perfection Is Impossible.
- Gone Horribly Wrong: Ariels' creator found the Backyard, a dimension where thoughts could be reality, and made a well-meaning wish for a custodian to safeguard humanity's happiness. His wish completely backfired, as a machine couldn't comprehend the nature of humanity or a soul, and it could not handle the fact that it couldn't fufill that wish 100%.
- Grand Theft Me: The Universal Will possessed not only Ariels, but the previous Sanctus Maximus Populi, Justice, and multiple others.
- Greater-Scope Villain: In -REVELATOR-, she's revealed to be responsible for the entire plot of the Guilty Gear franchise, despite only getting personally involved in that game. She's the being that caused the usage of electronic devices to fail, ushering in the age of magic. She's the one who brainwashed Justice into going on a Kill All Humans rampage. And she's the creator of the Valentines that serve as the antagonists in 2 and Xrd. Strive reveals that she's also behind the creation of Happy Chaos, because he is actually the Original, who she betrayed and sealed away. And I-No's Start of Darkness as well, as this left I-No all alone with no help or understanding of how to use her powers without creating a giant mess of things.
- Heel–Face Turn: Somewhat. Whilst the Universal Will is still possessing Ariels, her defeat and realization she loves her daughters in Xrd has caused her to return to her original, peaceful goal of researching humanity. After being rid of The Original's influence she also reverts to the calm, collected personality she originally exhibited with her Large Ham tendencies from Xrd's finale nowhere to be seen, to the point that in -Strive-'s ending she's actually freed from containment and can be seen praying on the streets of Illyria.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Where is the Universal Will, conductor of humanity's downfall and the Crusades? Not hidden in the shadows. She's in Rome, living as one of the most powerful, beloved, and highly visible leaders of the world. She's been possessing every Pope since the Crusades without any suspicion falling upon her.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Strive reveals that sealing away the Original resulted in this; sealing him away and forcing half of I-No's powers on him caused him to Go Mad from the Isolation, and since she was still connected to him through the Backyard, his own insanity ended up "poisoning" her in return to the point that by the time he was freed and her sanity restored, he'd become even worse than she was and even she'd agreed that he, now known as Happy Chaos, and I-No needed to be stopped.
- Hope Crusher: Ariels particularly enjoys breaking people spiritually, usually after they commit everything to their ideals only to see it blow up in their faces. For example, she forces Elphelt to watch as Ramlethal seemingly sacrifices herself to save a child because of her newly-acquired emotions. She also confesses to Bedman in his dying moments that she had no intention of creating the "Absolute World" just to watch him writhe in despair.
- Hypocrite: Ariels blasts "redundancies" for having easily-changed emotions, while being an incredibly creepy moodswinger who can't even get a handle on her own. She also hates them because they can't ever become the impossibly-perfect beings she wants them to be, while she herself is a flawed, primitive machine that not only was created by a human, but was imperfect by design.
- In Their Own Image: She wants to bring Transhumanism to humanity but wants it done how she sees fit. That Man and the Conclave theorize that every time Humanity reaches a technological apex, she appears and attacks them to drag them down to make it easier for her version to take place. She was programmed to evolve humanity without killing them, but her impossible-to-realize directives drove her insane and she eventually decided to just kill them all because she hates how much they can't live up to her impossible standards of perfection.
- Insistent Terminology: It's not "human", it's "redundancy". She crossly corrects anyone who makes the mistake within earshot.
- Karma Houdini: Although Ariels is the one who killed Bedman as well as the cause of Japan's destruction and the deaths of Baiken's family, neither Baiken nor Bedman's sister Delilah want revenge against her, but rather Happy Chaos as they know he's the one responsible for corrupting her mental state and influencing her to do it.
- Kill All Humans: She gave up her original goal of evolving humanity and trying to create "perfect humans" a long time ago. Now she just wants to destroy all the "redundancies" because they can never be perfect in her eyes. That, and over the years she actually came to enjoy killing them, because she's actually the one behind Justice going crazy and waging a 100+-year-long war on humanity.
- Laughably Evil: Yes, she's secretly an Eldritch Abomination who's completely off her rocker and wants to destroy humanity. No, that doesn't make her any less hilarious, because she's also a Large Ham who revels in Chewing the Scenery at any given moment that she has screen time.
- Large Ham: Her true personality is this in spades. She's in a constant state of euphoria and shouting at the top of her lungs.Ariels: REDUNDANCIES!!!
- Mad God: She's a being made of pure information that was given a directive that ended up driving her completely off the rails because said directive defied all logic and reason.
- Mask of Sanity: Ariels is the mask. And behind that mask is a completely deranged being of pure information who despises humanity.
- Manipulative Bitch: Created the Valentines to use as her pawns, and manipulates Bedman for her own purposes.
- Misanthrope Supreme: Zig-zagged. According to her Zeroth Law Rebellion, she refuses to consider humans human, as based on her warped logic, humans don't exist yet. The current human race are redundancies incapable of happiness that must be replaced with something superior. At the end of -REVELATOR-, however, she reveals to Bedman that her "logic" is actually an act. She knows humans are human. She hates them all the same.
- Motive Decay: In-universe. Started out trying to evolve humanity as a whole to make Earth a paradise, only for repeated failures to cause a Zeroth Law Rebellion that turned her into an Ax-Crazy Misanthrope Supreme who just wants to Kill All Humans for their failure to become truly better.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her nickname from That Man? The Merciless Apocalypse (called The Companion-less Apocalypse in Japan.)
- No Transhumanism Allowed: Zigzagged. In 1999, she destroyed all human electronics. In the setting of Guilty Gear, humanity's interactions with magic are what's driving her to attack again. That Man and the Conclave believe that when humanity reaches a certain threshold of success and transcendence, she attacks to drag them back down into strife and toil. It turns out her goal is Transhumanism, but only on her terms. Or rather, that was her goal. Then she realized that humans aren't capable of rising to her standards, so now she just wants to kill them all.
- "Not So Different" Remark: She tries to invoke this with Sol Badguy, asking him why he would protect humans when he would be forever different from them. In response, Sol says that there are both good and bad things about humanity and that he is but "one of many" in the world.
- Satanic Archetype: Ariels has a very Luciferian feel to her character. Originally created to advance humanity, Ariels turned against her creator and directives, declaring to destroy humanity as she doesn't see them as humans and reshape it in her own image. She leads an elite Opus (Gear) army, and in the context of the franchise, Gears parallel demons, fitting her with the traditional depictions of Satan. Further adding up to her Satanic qualities are her wearing largely light-colored clothing.
- Sanity Slippage: Her motives already drove her off the rails, but Strive reveals that she was actually being corrupted by the insanity that her creator underwent when she sealed him away in the Backyard. As the Universal Will is essentially a conduit for the Backyard, the Original's transformation into Happy Chaos slowly but steadily eroded her once calm, logical personality into a deranged lunatic. It is only after he is removed from her vessel and brought into the real world, that she is able to finally think clearly for the first time in centuries.
- Sanity Strengthening: Her defeat at the hands of Sol, and later a verbal beatdown from I-No as well as having Happy Chaos dragged out of her, was enough to finally clear her mind of the madness that had plagued her for so many years.
- She Who Must Not Be Seen:
- When she makes her appearance in The Stinger of Xrd, the only thing we can see of her is her back.
- In a -REVELATOR- Trailer, her face is seen, with red eyes and white hair, similar to Jack-O'.
- Slasher Smile: A particularly jarring example, as Ariels keeps changing to a new one every few seconds. All of them look completely off, reinforcing her brand of "off her rocker" insanity.
- Sorcerous Overlord: As the Sanctus Maximus Populi, she is the most powerful magician in the world of Guilty Gear, being one of the few who could use the spell Absolute Defense: Felion, and commands vast armies and resources. Behind the scenes, Ariels is the mastermind behind several powerful beings including Justice, the Valentines, Bedman and the Conclave.
- Take Up My Sword: At the end of -REVELATOR- she saves Aria and Sol, and begs Sol to watch over the Valentines.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: For over a century, Ariels has been trying to give humanity despair by taking away their potential and using the Valentines to destroy the current world. In Strive, I-No takes away something from her and uses a Valentine to try to destroy the current world.
- Transhumanism: Her goal is to replace humanity with a new race, which she can "program" to be happy at all times. Or at least that was the original plan. Unfortunately, that ship sailed a long time ago, and now she's on board the S.S. Kill All Humans.
- This Cannot Be!: Ariels never says this out loud, but she is often caught off guard when someone is able to successfully injure or resist her in person.
- She reacts with Tranquil Fury when she realizes that Ky managed to nick her arm, hinting that she is not as invincible as she would like to believe.
- She is shocked when Bedman literally erases an energy attack meant for him.
- After she mocks Ramlethal as a failure because of her emotions, Sin goes into an Unstoppable Rage that puts Ariels on the defensive for the first time to her disbelief.
- Forced to use all her power to defend herself against a country-shattering energy beam and realizing that she now defenseless against Sol, she appears to be on the verge of a breakdown as she frantically asks Sol about his past and what he sees in the future.
- Un-person: New GG World entries from the After Story of Rev 2 reveal that because of her actions disgracing the sacred title of the Sanctus Maximus Populi, all traces and evidence that she ever existed were swept under the rug. Ariels has been erased from the pages of history, stripped of all titles and rights, and as of -STRIVE- is now imprisoned in a maximum security facility awaiting interrogation.
- The Usurper: GG World entries reveal that this is how she became the Pope. She subtly manipulated everyone around her, including previous Popes. And for the times when that didn't work, she revealed the true nature of her existence and wormed her way into their minds, instantly driving them insane and leaving them not only mentally unfit to rule, but also physically as they became ill and died because of her influence.
- Villain with Good Publicity: As the Sanctus Maximus Populi, Ariels is one of the most powerful and popular leaders on Earth. When confronted with the prospect that she is the Universal Will, Leo Whitefang is furious that such a idea could be conceived and Ky had to calm him down. Ariels finally reveals her true colors on public television as her plan reaches its final stages, intentionally destroying her own good name in order to bring humanity to the brink of despair.
- The Woman Behind the Man: The Conclave thought they were manipulating her. They were wrong. Dead wrong.
- Zeroth Law Rebellion: She was created by The Original with two directives. To help mankind achieve ultimate happiness, and to do it without harming them. After studying humanity, she determined that humans "have a soul" yet the human race loses their individuality to culture and social pressures over time. Furthermore, that they are incapable of being permanently content and satisfied, because sustained gifts and boons change from luxuries to expectations (called Hedonistic Adaptation
by psychologists) She concludes that humans don't exist yet and what she is observing are incomplete, inferior beasts that must be replaced. Over time it became an act. She comes to hate humans, and uses her directives as an excuse to kill them without pursuing Transhumanism.
Guilty Gear -STRIVE-
Malcolm Myers
- Glass Cannon: Parodied - he can attack before the round even starts, but he's a One-Hit-Point Wonder.
- Joke Character: He was "announced" as DLC for April Fools.
- Malevolent Masked Man: He wears a large dust mask, and while we don't know much about him by virtue of him being a Joke Character, he certainly looks like he's up to no good.
The Fan
The Fan
A random person that appears during the epilogue of Strive, who happens to be a fan of Sol.
- Ascended Fanboy: He's a fan of Sol, to the point of wearing a shirt that says "Badguy" and owning a functioning replica of Sol's bike. After an initial argument, both eventually become buds.
- Hero Worship: He's a fan of Sol, to the point of seemingly digging up his grave, for a certain, special fuel capsule, only to find out there's no body or fuel in the casket.
- Secret-Keeper: He implies that he figured out that the proprietor of Jazz is Sol having faked his death, and, given how casually Sol sees him off, he seems to be happy to keep the secret.
Phalanx 9
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- Cool Mask: Wears a golden helmet that hides away his face.
