A summary page for the various characters in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Many are also characters from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Note that all spoilers concerning the previous show are left unmarked here.NOTE: This series is particularly prone to Alternative Character Interpretation; please be conscious of such and remember that your take on a given character is not the only possible way to look at them. Do not remove tropes highlighting "opposing" intepretations unless they are flat-out factually incorrect.
The show's (initial) protagonist. His family was killed attempting to flee when the Earth Alliance invaded Orb during the First Bloody Valentine War; he became a refugee and ended up in the PLANTs. He blames Orb (and the Athha family in particular) for their deaths, and carries a lot of hatred for both. He joined ZAFT and became a Redcoat alongside Rey Za Burrel and Lunamaria Hawke as the pilot of the Impulse, Minerva's flagship Gundam.Shinn has a problem with authority figures in general; he tends to lash out at his immediate superiors and resents being given orders. Despite this, he relies heavily on his peers for support; Rey acts as his moral compass, while Lunamaria provides him with much-needed emotional support.Pilots the ZGMF-X56S Impulse, a Combining Mecha with three Silhouette Packs which specialize in one combat aspect, and then the ZGMF-X42S Destiny, an all-around Gundam.
Anti-Hero: Type III at first, gradually shifting to Type IV. He's not a bad kid, he just has a lot of issues.
Anti-Villain: One of the best examples in the Gundam franchise. No one does all the wrong things for all the right reasons like he does. Starts as a Type IV then moves up to Type III.
Bash Brothers: With Rey, after acquiring the Destiny and the Legend, respectively; Shinn fights head-on, while Rey provides long-range support.
The Berserker: Shinn's anger is his driving motivation. Throw in a love of close-combat, a huge ego, and little consideration for his own safety, plus access to SEED Mode and you have a recipe for some serious face-wrecking.
BFS: Shinn is fond of them, on both the Impulse and the Destiny.
Bigger Stick: The Destiny is superior to any mech the Earth Forces have, and allows Shinn to run rampant for a while. It thus comes as a rather nasty shock to him when the equally powerful Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice arrive on the battlefield.
Black and White Morality: Shinn's biggest problem is his inability to see anything in shades of grey. He and his friends are right, everyone else is wrong, and away we go.
Break the Haughty: Compare his attitude after disobeying orders to return Stella to Neo to that after her death an episode later. And there's his reactions once Kira and Athrun make their comeback.
The Brute: Shinn really wouldn't know what "subtle" means even if it slapped him in the face. He's far from stupid, but favors brute force over anything else, and only resorts to tactics when he absolutely has to, making him this to the Chairman, post-perspective flip.
Character Development: Gets the most of any character in the series, all of it negative. He starts out as a relatively sympathetic Jerk with a Heart of Gold with anger and depression issues. But as the series progresses his personality conflict with Athrun, war-trauma, stress from his relationship with Stella, and inability to see beyond moral absolutes slowly eat away at his sanity. He becomes increasingly convinced of his own self-righteousness, even as he grows more unstable by the minute, and has to rely on Rey to justify his actions and Lunamaria to keep him from being completely consumed by rage. Stella's death and Athrun's defection finally break him, leaving him more susceptible to Rey and Durandal's manipulations than ever. When he loses his Sympathetic P.O.V., he is eventually shown the way the Archangel crew sees him: an Anti-Villain with lots of issues.
Combining Mecha: His Impulse is composed of three parts — Core Splendor, Chest Flyer and Leg Flyer, as well as the Silhouette Packs that change its combat capability.
Corporal Punishment: Shinn gets punched by Athrun twice — after disobeying orders, and after apparently killing Kira. Bragging about killing someone's best friendto their face is neither intelligent nor kind, Shinn.
Dead Little Sister: Most of his character can be traced back to his family's — and in particular his little sister Mayu's — death.
Decoy Protagonist: We follow Shinn for the first half of the series, learning to sympathise with him and his point of view. Than Durandal is outed as the villain, the POV shifts, and Kira and Athrun become the protagonists.
Emo Teen: He's often accused of this by the fanbase and he certainly is very angsty. Then again, he has reasonsfor it and no one around him is helping him get over it.
Expy: Shinn owes a lot to Kamille Bidan of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, and more or less shows what the latter might have become without proper guidance.
Foil: Shinn is what Athrun would've become had he chosen loyalty over conscience. There's also some parallels to how Kira could have become if he'd chosen emotion over reason or allowed himself to obsess over the past.
Heel Face Turn: Whatever one thinks of his motivations or whether he was right or not, he ends up on Kira, Athrun, and Lacus's side at the end of Final Plus, after Kira, whom he met earlier at the very same place — a memorial to the victims of the OMNI invasion that killed his family — shook his hands and said that he's willing to forgive him and even invites him to fight alongside him.
Heroic Wannabe: He's a good kid and he means well, but he's far too screwed up to ever be The Hero.
Hero with an F in Good: God knows he tries, but he just can't seem to get anything right. He seems to realize this, as well, which only adds to his frustration.
Hypocrite: He's outraged by what the Earth Forces have done to Stella, and is enraged when Kira—who had no other options available—cuts her down in the middle of a fight, going so far as to try and get revenge on him for it. He himself does the exact same thing to Auel and Sting (who he is fully aware are Extended) without batting an eye.
He also got his start with his family dying in a war. What does he do? Fight in wars. Especially bad once his side invades the country that his family died in essentially making a cycle of pain.
Lightning Bruiser: The Destiny — it has a BFS and a BFG, as well as "Voiture Lumiere" system, which allows it to grow wings of light and create disorienting aftereffects with its high-speed movement.
Mecha Expansion Pack: The Impulse's Silhouette Packs — Force (flight), Sword (melee) and Blast (long-range).
Military Maverick: Displays no respect for the chain of command, and frequently disobeys orders, yet is allowed to get away with it due to his skill.
Mood Swinger: Like you would not believe. He shifts from almost catatonically depressed to berserker rage to cheerful and back at a frightening rate. Gets worse as he suffers his Sanity Slippage.
Moral Myopia: Shinn has a lot of trouble understanding or sympathising with the actions of anyone outside his small group of friends. When a ZAFT pilot is killed, it's the actions of an EA monster. When an EA pilot is killed, even if it's just some poor bastard doing his job, it's heroism. This is especially obvious with regards to the Extended—it isn't okay for Kira to kill Stella, who Shinn was in love with, but his own take downs of Auel and Sting (whom he very clearly recognises) were entirely necessary.
Parental Abandonment: His mom, dad, and sister were all killed in the previous war.
Power Trio: One of the only consistent group dynamics in the series; Shinn is the Id, Luna the Ego, and Rey the Superego.
Reality Is Unrealistic: Shinn keeps Mayu's cell phone, occasionally listening to her "leave a message after the beep" recording. It's really not that uncommon for survivors of tragedies to hold onto keepsakes, but try telling that to some of the fandom.
Replacement Goldfish: Some see his relationship with Stella as romantic. Others believe that she's a substitute for his deceased sister, Mayu.
Rescue Romance: If you interpret his relationship with Stella as a romantic one. He not only saves her from drowning during their first meeting, he later prevents her from dying on the Minerva by returning her to Neo.
Revenge: He makes it very clear when he goes after the Freedom that he sees it as a way of paying Kira back for Stella. One could argue that revenge on the EA was what motivated him to sign on with ZAFT in the first place.
Rummage Sale Reject: Off duty, Shinn more or less dresses like a homeless guy, mixing and matching scarves, sleeveless shirts, and you name it. Likely justified by his standoffish personality and living as an orphan on a military salary.
Sanity Slippage: His mental health takes a dramatic turn for the worse over the course of the series. It's not until the epilogue that he even starts to recover.
Second Love: Lunamaria, after they each lose their respective first choices.
Skilled, but Naive: It would be hard to find anyone in this show who's more Badass than Shinn. It would also be hard to find anyone who's more gullible or easy to manipulate.
Star-Crossed Lovers: A possible interpretation of his relationship with Stella. It certainly ends tragically enough.
Super Mode: Like Kira, Athrun, and Cagali, Shinn has access to SEED mode, entering it in almost every battle he participates in. Unlike Athrun and Kira's, which seems to be activated at will, his is is entirely rage driven.
Survivor Guilt: Shinn's clearly suffering from a bad case of this in regards to his family; the situation with Stella only makes it worse.
Sympathetic P.O.V.: Though he starts the series as the viewpoint character, he eventually loses it — first to Athrun, and then to Kira.
Sympathy for the Devil: One of the few people to express any sympathy for the Extended. Not that this stops him from cutting down two of them without a second thought...
There Are No Therapists: Kira and Athrun's lives would have been a lot easier had someone taken the terminally depressed kid who just watched his entire family die to see a shrink. Or at least anger-management. Then again, Durandal needs him to be that screwed up for his plans to work.
Unstoppable Rage: His best weapon in a fight. He increasingly slips into bouts of this as his experiences in the war slowly gnaw into his sanity.
Unwitting Pawn: Shinn has no idea of the extent with which Rey and Durandal are pulling his strings and encouraging his madness, and he trusts the two of them to the very end.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The enraged berserker and the kid we see playing with his sister in the flashbacks don't really have a lot in common.
With Us or Against Us: Starts expressing this kind of attitude as the war progresses.
Would Hit a Girl: Shinn makes a pretty determined effort to kill Cagali when she confronts him in the Akatsuki. He also tries to go through Luna when she gets in the way during his final confrontation with Athrun.
One of the Minerva trio of ZAFT Redcoats. Relatively little is known about her backstory, compared to Shinn and Rey. She's cheerful and outgoing, which balances out Shinn's frequently-wrathful disposition and Rey's nigh-disturbing calmness. Her sister, Meyrin, is one of the Minerva's Bridge Bunnies. After Athrun joins the Minerva, she develops a slight crush on him, but it goes away after he deserts the crew and she ends up in a relationship with Shinn instead.She is the pilot of a red ZGMF-1000 ZAKU Warrior and later inherits the Impulse after her ZAKU gets trashed and Shinn upgrades to the Destiny.
Action Girl: While not as over-the-top badass as the other main characters, Luna holds her own against Extendeds and Gundams, despite piloting a ZAKU for most of the series.
Faux Action Girl: On the other hand, some consider her this because, while competent, she never really does anything particularly impressive, like conclusively defeating another main character. See also the Never Live It Down entry, on the YMMV subpage.
Mid-Season Upgrade: The Impulse may be an older Gundam, but it's a huge cut above her Zaku.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Luna's a perfectly competent pilot, capable of holding her own with Stella's Gaia using only a ZAKU Warrior. Unfortunately for her, she's on the same team as Shinn and Rey, has yet to register a major kill, and ends up going up against Neo and then Athrun in the finale.
Plot-Induced Stupidity: Given her spying mission on Athrun, she's within a hairsbreadth of realizing the truth of their situation. She proceeds to do nothing with this information for the rest of the series (though it seems to color her attitude somewhat).
Power Trio: One of the only consistent group dynamics in the series; Shinn is the Id, Luna the Ego, and Rey the Superego. She seems to have trouble mediating between the other two though.
Second Love: Shinn, after they each lose their respective first choices.
Shorttank: While undoubtedly attractive, Luna isn't nearly as feminine as other female cast members.
Token Good Teammate: Post-perspective flip. It's not like any of her teammates are trulyevil, but Luna's the only one who manages to keep her sense of perspective and avoid going totally over the line.
The third of the Minerva's pilot trio. He is calm, stoic, and loyal to Durandal — his adoptive father — as well as a mentor to Shinn, providing some much-needed stability to offset Shinn's volatile emotions. When the others are confused, questioning, or doubtful, it's Rey who brings them back to focus on their mission. Eventually revealed to be Rau Le Creuset's clone "brother". At the finale, he chooses to die with Durandal and Talia.He pilots a white ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom, performing the same function as Lunamaria (standing atop the Minerva and providing fire support). Eventually he gets his own Gundam — the ZGMF-X666S Legend — and begins to demonstrate exactly what he is capable of; he and Shinn provide most of the muscle for ZAFT in the later battles.
Arch-Enemy: Would like to be Kira's, as revealed near the end.
Attack Drone: The Legend is the Providence's Spiritual Successor, hence DRAGOONs are to be expected among his repetoire. Eight of them deploy lasers; the other two are outfitted with beam swords. Unlike the Providence's DRAGOONs, they can be fired while attached to the Legend, as well as after deployment.
Avenging the Villain: We're never really told how much this plays into his motivations, but given his obsession with killing Kira, who defeated Rau it seems likely that this is a driving factor in Rey's life.
Cloning Blues: Unsurprisingly (given his blond hair, blue eyes, and oddly constructed last name), Rey is a clone of the La Flaga line (though it's unclear exactly who he's a clone of). He considers himself the heir of/replacement for Rau Le Creuset, an idea encouraged by Durandal.
Kick the Son of a Bitch: Vaporizes Djibril by firing through the bridge of his battleship while the latter is trying to escape from yet another losing battle.
The Last Dance/Living on Borrowed Time: Only drugs keep him going, yet he'll still die within a few months. This clearly factors into his desire to see the Destiny Plan implemented soon.
Light is Not Good: White suit, blonde hair, blue eyes... you know the drill by now.
Manipulative Bastard: He has Shinn wrapped around his little finger for the entire series, is more or less running the Minerva by the end, and nearly drove Kira into a Heroic BSOD during the final battle by revealing his Cloning Blues.
The Political Officer: Very quietly plays this role on the Minerva, subverting Gladys' role as captain, and ensuring that Luna, Shinn, and the rest of the crew stay loyal to the Chairman.
Power Trio: One of the only consistent group dynamics in the series; Shinn is the Id, Luna the Ego, and Rey the Superego.
The Reveal: A rather subdued one, when Shinn (and the viewers) saw him taking some of Rau's trademark little pills, and he casually remarks that he suffers from short telomeres, which confirms his status as a clone.
Stronger Sibling: Averted. He's certainly stabler than Le Creuset was, but isn't quite at his level of threat.
Sympathy for the Devil: He expresses some sympathy for Stella. Whether this is genuine or part of a plan to bring Shinn even closer to him is left unanswered by the show. He also has some sympathy for Le Creuset, whom he regards as a brother/previous incarnation of himself.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Why Rey is loyal to Durandal; he honestly believes that Durandal's world will be a better one.
Villainous Breakdown: An utterly epic one, during the final battle. Kira convinces him that clone or no, he is his own person who has to make his own decisions. Rey takes this rather hard. By the end, he's crying for his mother in Talia's arms as the Messiah caves in on them.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the same vein as Durandal. Having seen what his "brother" tried to do, Rey is convinced that something has to change.
A veteran of the first Bloody Valentine War, and an old friend (and enemy) of Kira Yamato's. He rejoins ZAFT when war breaks out once again and is assigned to the Minerva. His accomplishments and fame earn him the adoration of much of the crew, apart from the surly Shinn. He initially opposes his old friends on the Archangel, citing their actions as doing nothing but make the conflict worse, but he ultimately defects back into Kira's side when he discovers Durandal's scheme and, along with Meyrin, is nearly killed by Shinn.He pilots the ZGMF-X23S Saviour while onboard the Minerva, a Transforming Mecha just like his Aegis from two years ago, and eventually obtains the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice, a melee-oriented Gundam and the Justice's Spiritual Successor.
The Ace: The Minerva's crew treat him like this...
Broken Ace: ...but he doesn't live up to his own standards, and is very conflicted about what's right.
Aesop Amnesia: After Lacus confronts him with a To Be Lawful or Good decision two years ago, he chose to listen to his conscience, rejected a "My Country, Right or Wrong" mentality, and tried to bring about genuine peace. By the beginning of Destiny, he seems to have forgotten all that, signs up with ZAFT again, and has to undergo the whole process a second time. Admittedly, round two was a lot quicker and much less angsty.
Badass: Piloting a Gundam while dealing with a gaping chest wound gets you serious Badass points.
Big Brother Mentor: He tries to be this for Shinn, but Shinn's not really interested, and Athrun doesn't have the people skills to pull it off.
Chick Magnet: Despite (or because of) being somewhat stilted and awkward, women throw themselves at Athrun.
Determinator: Though he tends to waver when he's uncertain of himself, once he makes up his mind he's bloody unstoppable. See Freedom vs. Saviour for the former and Infinite Justice vs. Destiny for the latter.
He Knows Too Much: Once Athrun got wind of Durandal's plans, the latter orders Rey to have him killed; Rey in turn manipulates Shinn into thinking that Athrun has turned traitor.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Athrun's opinion of himself and ZAFT's hero-worship of him do not exactly match up.
Multi Melee Master: Athrun takes this to new levels of insanity in his Infinite Justice by having two beam sabers, a beam blade in its shield, beam blades on its wings, legs, and it sports a rocket anchor that he never actually uses. To top it off he uses its beam shield as a makeshift melee weapon.
Older and Wiser: Though in a subversion, his experience and advice doesn't really make much of a difference. If anything, they create a bigger gap between himself and the more idealistic Shinn.
Reluctant Warrior: Athrun still doesn't want to fight, but unlike Kira he doesn't go out of his way to avoid killing when he does fight.
Secret Keeper: For Meer. She confides on him about her role as Lacus's Body Double, and he doesn't spill the beans about it.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: Not a full on example, but he's definitely got some aspects of this trope. May or may not explain his Aesop Amnesia.
Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: The contrast between cynical, war-weary Athrun and the idealistic, patriotic (and badly misguided) Shinn couldn't be much stronger.
Spell My Name with an S: An odd example: The Saviour, its official (Anglophone) name, is frequently rendered as Saber in Japanese sources, as the official name and the katakana used for it are at odds with each other. Specifically, it's not possible to get "Saviour" out of the katakana as the katakana lacks an "i" syllable. There's also the usual thing with "Savior" vs "Saviour"
A Bridge Bunny on board the Minerva, and Lunamaria's little sister. Like her sister, she crushes on Athrun. She doesn't have much of a significant role in the story until she gets pulled into Athrun's escape and defection to the Three Ship Alliance, where she becomes a Bridge Bunny onboard the Eternal, placing herself in direct conflict with her sister.
The Unfavorite: Seems to consider herself this. She shows occasional bouts of jealousy over Luna's popularity (for example, trying on Luna's pink miniskirt while Luna was in the shower — and becoming annoyed when it doesn't fit).
Captain of the Minerva and Shinn's commanding officer. Tries very hard to be a fair commander, despite her authority being constantly ignored by Shinn and occasionally subverted by Durandal and Rey. Her second in command doesn't help any. Later revealed to be an old flame of Durandal's, she remains loyal to him and to ZAFT despite her doubts until just before the very end.
Cool Ship: The Minerva. It's named after the Roman goddess of war, which only serves to make an already cool ship more awesome still.
Driven to Suicide: Her decision to die with Durandal and Rey comes off as this, though it could be justified if one goes by the idea that she feels just as responsible for allowing them to have come that far with their plan as they had even though she had her doubts.
Team Mom: She tries, but she isn't really emotionally equipped for it, Rey's presence means her authority is being constantly subverted, and her crew's problems are just too much for her to handle.
Voice Actors: Hiroki Takahashi(Japanese), Jonathan Holmes (English)
Talia's second-in-command, Arthur is a likeable and competent, if remarkably panicky officer. Totally loyal to Captain Gladys, he has a good rapport with Shinn and the other pilots.
Cowardly Lion: Arthur is nervy, jumpy, and prone to freaking out, yet he's a perfectly capable officer, sticks by Gladys' side to the end, and adapts remarkably well to the Minerva's increasingly crazy plans.
Ensign Newbie: Unlike Gladys, Arthur is not a veteran. Fortunately, he's the Number Two, not The Captain, and acquits himself fairly well.
Good-Looking Privates: Though that's pretty much par for the course for SEED and Destiny.
Nice Guy: Arthur is a rarity in this show—hell, in this franchise—an unamiguously affable guy.
One of the Extended (a group of drug-enhanced Naturals who can fight on par with Coordinators), Stella is first seen participating in the Armoury One raid. While in battle she behaves like a berserker, off-duty she is childlike and innocent, curious over even the most mundane of things. She also sees Neo as a father-figure. She has a huge fear of death — she fights so aggressively because she's afraid of her enemies, and so lashes out at them. She develops a relationship with Shinn, and is briefly held captive by ZAFT before Shinn returns her to the Earth Forces. Soon afterwards she is killed by Kira while piloting the Destroy.She is at first the pilot of the ZGMF-X88S Gaia Gundam (re-coded as RGX-03), a Transforming Mecha that can turn into a fox-like mobile armor suited for ground combat, and later is placed in the cockpit of the first GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam, which is a humongous Gundam of mass destruction.
Ax Crazy: Beneath her Cloudcuckoolander exterior she's just as violently insane as (if far more pitiable than) Auel.
Broken Bird: The process that made her an Extended did not leave her mind in good shape.
Character Development: As with Shinn, it's all negative. Neo's mindwipes, combined with increased exposure to drugs, and the general stress of both war and her relationship with Shinn cause Stella regress further and further into childhood as a means of mental defense. By the end, she's not much more than a frightened little girl.
Cloudcuckoolander: A dark version, underscoring her mental problems.
Custom Uniform of Sexy: Though not quite as blatant as Luna's, if only because all three Extended have modified their uniforms to some extent.
Expy: Anyone who has watched Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam will notice that she's a mix of Four Murasame and Rosamia Badam, following the former's character arc, but possessing the latter's personality.
Idiot Savant: She barely functions above the level of a three or four year old, but give her a weapon or get her behind the controls of a Gundam, and she becomes every bit as dangerous (if not more dangerous than) as Auel and Sting.
The Juggernaut: When she's turned loose in the Destroy she slaughters half of Eurasia, forcing her way through cities and entire armies before finally being stopped in downtown Berlin.
Lack of Empathy: Given that she's barely aware that other people exist this shouldn't surprise anyone. If your name isn't Shinn or Neo, you aren't real to Stella. You're just one of the "scary things!"
Tragic Monster/Tragic Villain: Stella didn't ask to be turned into an Extended or to be turned loose on Shinn, whom she genuinely seems to have cared about. By the time we meet her though, it's far too late to change any of that.
Transforming Mecha: The Gaia can transform between bipedal and quadreped forms; later, she gets the Destroy, which has a mobile armor and a mobile suit mode.
Trigger Phrase: Mention the possibility of her death in her hearing and she flips out. Most notably used on her by Auel during the Armory One raid, but Shinn also manages to hit it entirely by accident.
"Sometimes I wonder when I crossed the line and became a wicked man."
Lord Djibril's mysterious, masked right-hand man and Phantom Pain's field leader. Neo and his team are the major antagonists for the first half of the series. Though a skilled pilot himself, he mostly acts as commanding officer. Quite the Manipulative Bastard, he generally uses his abilities in that field to keep his subordinates as stable and sane as possible. He's eventually shot down and captured by the Archangel, where it's revealed that he's actually Mu La Flaga with false memories implanted to make him loyal to the Earth Federation.
Ace Custom: His purple-coloured Exus mobile armor and Windam mobile suit.
Cool Plane/Space Fighter: The TS-MA4F Exus. An upgraded version of the Mobius Zero from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, it's armed with wire-guided gunpods, missile launchers, and a heavy-machinegun. He's able to successfully outmanouvere Shinn and Rey (at the same time!) with it, making it a very Cool Plane indeed. He later pilots a Skygrasper during his Heel Face Turn.
Cool Ship: Commands the first-of-its-kind Girty Lue assault carrier, which is essentially an Archangel-class with the Lohengrin removed in favor of a Mirage Colloid system, a stealth propulsion engine, and a hanger room for an entire strike force of mobile suits.
Death from Above: Delivered in his Windam. Generally, he and Sting provided the Earth Forces with air support.
The Dragon: To Djibril, leading both the Navy and Phantom Pain for him. Overlaps with Hypercompetent Sidekick as he, and not his boss, is the reason for most of the Earth Forces' military successes.
Fragile Speedster/Glass Cannon: The GAT-04 Windam, which blows up with alarming frequency, but is fast, and has a beam rifle, which lets it one hit KO anything that isn't a Gundam. Neo, being Neo, simply expects to not get hit.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: He proves to have extensive scarring all over his body, including his face. Despite being covered up with a mask, however, it's non-disfiguring.
Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Djibril. Not a case of Dragon-in-Chief though, as Djibril is very much in charge (and is by far the more evil of the two of them).
Ignored Epiphany: Neo is fully aware that he's an incredibly bad person. He also thinks he's gone too far to turn back now. Being captured by the Archangel and a bad case of Amnesiac Dissonance help shake him out of this.
Invisibility Cloak: The Girty Lue carries both the Mirage Colloid system, which allows it to achieve radar and line-of-sight invisibility, and a stealth propulsion system that uses pressurised jets of gas to avoid detection by thermal sensors.
I've Come Too Far: Neo crossed his personal Moral Event Horizon when he first started working with the Extended. He doesn't feel like there is any going back now.
Karma Houdini: Avoids responsibility for the variety of crap he pulled while leading Phantom Pain. May be because he was Not Himself at the time. Also, Kira and co. don't know about most of the things Neo did.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Unlike Djibril, Neo knows when to cut his losses. He retreats from any battle or personal engagement once he becomes aware that it's untenable, and he has nothing to gain.
Lightning Bruiser: The Akatsuki. See Cagali's entry for more on that.
Manipulative Bastard: He controls the Extended by playing off of their worst fears, and promises Shinn he'll keep Stella away from the battlefield, before putting her in the Destroy. Worst part is that this may actually have been best for everyone involved.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Neo is an absoultely lethal pilot, but his use of first a mobile armour and then a Windam can cause this to be overlooked. Come Heel Face Turn he upgrades to the Akatsuki, and for the first time in series has a top model Gundam. Slaughter ensues.
Parental Substitute/Team Dad: Sinister version. Stella sees him as a father figure, and he certainly plays the role to all three Extended, but it's equal parts sympathy and just keeping them under control.
Pet the Dog: He's the only person other than Shinn to express any concern for the Extended, or even treat them like human beings. Whether this is genuine, or an attempt to manipulate them (or both) is really left open.
Pragmatic Villainy: Neo has no interest in pointless destruction. It's not efficent.
Real Men Wear Pink: Well they wear black, actually, but they fly modified bright pink Windams. His Exus mobile armour was pink as well.
Voice Actors: Tadahisa Saizen (Japanese), Lee Tockar (English)
Neo's second-in-command, Ian usually runs the ship while Neo takes care of strategy. A capable officer, he seems to get along well with his boss, despite the latter's eccentricities.
The Captain: Oddly, yes. He's the actual captain of the Girty Lue, although he's outranked by Neo.
Another Extended member of Phantom Pain. Auel is usually easygoing and cheerful, which translates into mocking arrogance (and at times outright sadism) in battle. His blockword is "mother", apparently because one female scientist was kind to him during his days as a test subject. He is the first of the Phantom Pain to be killed — in his case, by Shinn.He pilots the ZGMF-X31S Abyss (re-coded as RGX-02), a Transforming Mecha which can turn into a stingray-like mobile armor that enhances its performance in amphibious combat.
Ax Crazy: Probably the worst of the three, at least initially.
Blood Knight: Though whether it's the fighting or the killing that he likes more is open to debate.
Expy: He's pretty much a stabler version of Shani, from the pre-Extended trio. They were even supposed to share the same voice actor in English, before Richard Ian Cox got caught up with other commitments.
Guns Akimbo: In the first episode, with submachine guns.
Kick the Dog: Probably the nastiest of the three, as evidenced by his use of Stella's Trigger Phrase as well as his sneering disregard for other people's lives.
Knight Templar Big Brother: Towards Stella. When a soldier attempts to move her out of the way by grabbing her, Auel's reaction is to almost stab the guy to death.
Lack of Empathy: He's a sneering, arrogant bully who treats everyone—excepting Sting and maybe Stella—as though they deserve to die.
The oldest and most stable member of Phantom Pain. Lacking Auel's bloodlust and Stella's childishness, he comes off as the most well-adjusted of the group, which is probably why he acts as the trio's unofficial leader. Following Stella and Auel's deaths, he starts exhibiting Ax Crazy tendencies, and is killed by Shinn at the Battle of Heaven's Base.He's the pilot of the ZGMF-X24S Chaos (re-coded as RGX-01), a Transforming Mecha capable of transforming into a bird-like mobile armor, giving it an edge in aerial combat, and later another Destroy.
Ax Crazy: Late in the series he starts to exhibit these tendencies while piloting the Destroy.
Expy: He's Clotho Bauer to Auel's Shani Andras. He also bears some similarities to Gates Capa of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the Only Sane Man among the Cyber-Newtypes.
Know When to Fold 'Em: He's the only member of the Phantom Pain trio with any concept of tactics, including when to retreat.
Lack of Empathy: He's got a better understanding of other people's emotions than Auel and Stella do, but at the end of the day, Sting's cold-blooded enough to utterly disregard them.
The Leader: Of the Extended (as Neo is normally busy running the war effort as a whole) and the Heaven's Base Destroys. He's a Type II, graduating to Type III at Heaven's Base (where he leads by example rather than instruction).
Mid-Season Upgrade: From the Chaos to the Destroy, much to the dismay of ZAFT's Heaven's Base assault force.
Mighty Glacier: Sting pretty much uses the Destroy as a mobile pillbox, taking advantage of its massive firepower and heavy armour to survive attacks.
Sociopathic Soldier: For a guy who's normally cold-blooded and unemotional, Sting enjoys shooting enemy soldiers just a little too much. He might actually be the best example of the three, as he lacks Stella's handicaps and Auel's obvious craziness, yet still gets a real kick out of violence.
Weapon Of Mass Destruction: Following Stella's death he's given command of a Destroy, and leads a squadron of them at the Battle of Heaven's Base.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Like his fellow Extended, Sting is already a bit of a loose cannon, thanks to years of abuse and drug addiction (although compared to the "Druggies" he's a pillar of stability), but he truly flips when — after already losing Auel and Stella — he gets his hands on the Destroy.
Azrael's successor as the leader of Blue Cosmos, and a major antagonist throughout the show, Lord Djibril is best described as a total bastard. Vicious, cruel, arrogant, and not especially bright, he wants to slaughter all Coordinators while simultaneously establishing his own control over the world. Responsible for the creation of the Extended, Mu's brainwashing into Neo, and much of the misery in-series, he is slain by Rey while attempting to escape a losing battle.
Bad Boss: He uses drugs to control the Extended and brainwashing on Neo. He regularly leaves his men behind to die while he escapes, fully believes in We Have Reserves, and treats his subordinates like imbeciles. Pretty much the worst boss ever.
Big Bad: Of the Earth Forces, Blue Cosmos, and Phantom Pain's Five-Bad Band. While he's not the only contender for the title of series' Big Bad, he's the only one that everyone—in-series and out—agrees is an irredeemable psycho with no good qualities.
Diabolical Mastermind: He's got the secret lair, hordes of minions, Ominous Multiple Screens, an Evil Plan, and a Right-Hand Cat that this trope seems to demand. While intellectually he's no Lex Luthor, he still has the resources, influence, technology, and total disregard for human life to be a serious threat.
Dirty Coward: Granted he's a politician and not a soldier, but every time things go south, he's quick to bail and leave his troops in a lurch.
Evil Is Hammy: Of all the characters in show, he's easily the one who chews the most scenery. Somehow it just makes him all the more disgusting.
Eviler than Thou: With Durandal. He's certainly the more evil of the two, but not the more competent.
Fantastic Racism: Against Coordinators. Like his predecessor Azrael, he wants to see them all exterminated, no matter what it takes.
General Failure: While he generally leaves the tactical decisions to Neo, Djibril's involvement in overall strategy frequently screws his own side over. See the business with the Destroy for a good example.
Hair-Trigger Temper: There's a lot of rage inside Djibril, and it's not particularly difficult to bring it out.
Lack of Empathy: The only person who matters to Djibril is Djibril.
The Man Behind the Man: To the Atlantic Federation and this particular incarnation of the Earth Sphere Alliance.
Meaningful Name: "Djibril" is the Arabic of "Gabriel", one of God's angels. It fits in nicely with his status as successor to Azrael, who was named for the Angel of Death.
Sissy Villain: Subverted. He has the look certainly, but none of the attitude.
Smug Snake: He's sneeringly arrogant, none-too bright, void of redeeming qualities, and completely unlikeable.
The Sociopath: With his explosive temper, impulsiveness, and total Lack of Empathy, Djibril's a very good example of a low-functioning sociopath.
Stupid Evil: Djibril is very bad at keeping his violent tendencies in check, typically responding to any percieved threat or betrayal with overwhelming destructive force. This generally hurts his cause far more than it helps.
Unwitting Pawn: Possibly of Durandal's, though it's never made clear whether the Chairman is using Djibril, or he is actively seeking his destruction.
War for Fun and Profit: If Durandal is to be believed, Djibril's real objective is to make as much money off of the conflict as he can. Given that Djibril was willing to nuke the colonies (which would presumably cost him half his clientele), it's worth questioning the veracity of this statement.
"Power is necessary because there will always be conflict."
Durandal, the new ZAFT Supreme Council Chairman, is a moderate who believes Naturals and Coordinators can live in peace. He is a mentor figure towards the crew of the Minerva, and often talks about his plans for a better tomorrow. He also seems to be a bit of a fatalist, is somewhat mysterious, rarely explaining things directly, and his motives are unclear for most of the series. Turns out he plans to unify the world by direct force and impose genetic determinism to avert more wars. He's also an old friend of the late Rau Le Creuset, who clearly influenced his thinking. He dies at Messiah Base after being shot by his Dragon, Rey.
Big Bad: Of the Minerva's Five-Bad Band, ZAFT, and the entire show. He's certainly The Man Behind the Man to a lot of the worst events in-show, and is the last of the contenders for the title left standing following Djibril's demise.
Broken Pedestal: To Athrun and the ZAFT pilots who defect to the TSA.
The Chessmaster: Durandal is really good at getting people to do things that benefit him.
Char Clone: Channelling Char Aznable's extremism to a more plausible (but no less sinister) level than his friend Rau Le Creuset, as well as serving as a relatively-benevolent mentor for his army. And come on, THATVOICE.
Didn't See That Coming: Lacus interrupting Meer's interruption of Cagalli's first worldwide broadcast since being "kidnapped" by Kira. Of course, he's quick to work around on this, but his shocked expression (if just for a moment) clearly showed that Lacus caught him off-guard.
Eviler than Thou: With Djibril, his rival for the title of Big Bad. Djibril is more evil, Durandal more competent.
The Evils of Free Will: While not addressed as such directly, the Destiny Plan would certainly get rid of it.
Fantastic Racism: Not as virulent or obvious a case as, say, Lord Djibril, but it does rise to the surface in the end. Specifically, when he unveils his ideal vision for the world, the eugenicist nightmare that is the Destiny Plan, which would, among other things, automatically result in the genetically-enhanced Coordinators becoming a de facto 'master race'.
The Fatalist: With all his talk about destiny and how things that happened were "meant to be" he definitely gives off this vibe.
Humans Are Bastards: Shares Le Creuset's belief that people are inherently selfish, uncaring beings. The difference is that he wants to do something about it.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: A rare, villainous example. A major part of Durandal's motivation stems from his guilt over his inability to save Rau Le Creuset from his madness, as evidenced by his "chess match" with the creep, whose ghost is still haunting him.
The Man Behind the Man: Durandal is certainly the driving force behind many events in the series. Exactly how much he's responsible for is still debated by fans. Contested events range from the Armoury One raid, the Break the World incident, and the assassination attempt on Lacus to the formation of Logos itself.
Manipulative Bastard: He does a number on Rey, Shinn, Meer, Athrun in the first half, and most of the planet via Meer.
Nietzsche Wannabe: Tries very hard to avoid becoming one, with limited success. It's fairly obvious in flashbacks that the reason he could never win his arguments with Rau was because he had already accepted Rau's belief that people are inherently evil and the universe is a cold, unfeeling place. Despite this, he doesn't believe in giving up on them, and thus is out to inject some meaning into the world whatever the methods and cost.
Putting on the Reich: It's not immediately apparrent, but dye his trenchcoat and jackboots black, and voila!
Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Shinn believes the Chairman is one—he always listens to him, wants to make the world a better place, etc., etc., but it's all an act, designed to get Shinn on his side.
The Reveal: Happens slowly, but here goes — he's playing on Shinn's emotional fragility through his adopted son Rey, is conning the world with both his charm and the support of Lacus... er, Meer, was an old friend of Rau (whose disillusionment with humanity has rubbed off on him), and intends to Take Over the World and impose a Social Darwinist utopia. God help you if you get in his way.
Social Darwinist: A different type than normal for the trope; he believes that people are genetically suited to certain roles, and therefore society should use genetic analysis to assign people their "proper" place in life.
Übermensch: Seeks to completely change the world and impose his own vision of morality upon it.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Believes that by creating a society where people's lives are determined for them at birth he will end all conflict and usher in a perfect world.
Villainous Friendship: Has a father/son relationswhip with Rey, and a complicated friendship with the previous Big Bad, Le Creuset.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: His ultimate goal is, in a nutshell, to make people's lives better. His plan for accomplishing that, though...
With Us or Against Us: People who don't support the Chairman's utopian goals are not long for this world.
Xanatos Speed Chess/Gambit Roulette: The series remains vague on which one definitely applies to him. Whether or not he is responsible for the Armory One raid, "Break the World", and the attempt on Lacus's life, or is simply letting fate take its course and then work around them to further his goal, is left to viewer debate.
World Domination: He's got more complicated reasons than most megalomaniacs, but his plan still requires this in order to work.
A Girl Next Door and Lacus Clyne Fangirl, and strongly implied to be a war orphan. She is chosen to get plastic surgery and replace Lacus after she goes into hiatus, as she shares her idol's abilities and voice. While she appears naive and somewhat less than brilliant, it's uncertain how much of this is real, how much is part of her impersonation of Lacus's Incorruptible Pure Pureness, and how much is self-serving Obfuscating Stupidity designed to deny responsibility for her actions. As the series progresses, she becomes less and less sure of herself and her role.
Anti-Villain: She tells Athrun that she knows what she's doing is wrong, but still does it because she wants to continue being Lacus instead of a nobody like Meer Campbell.
Ascended Fangirl: She gets the chance to become her idol! It... doesn't turn out well.
Becoming the Mask: Zig-Zagged; Meer seems to have initially thought that she'll be Lacus's proxy until she comes out of "retirement" (because Lacus will obviously support the Chairman), then realizes she'll have to "be" Lacus permanently but understands she's not really Lacus (especially once she — and the rest of the world — found out that the real Lacus would have none of Durandal's schemes), then she starts to convince herself that she's literally become Lacus, but in the end she puts the real Lacus over herself, even Taking the Bullet for her.
Gainaxing: She's rather stacked compared to Lacus, which is particularly noticeable when she's jumping around during performances. Her fans do take notice, but either dismiss it or consider it an improvement.
Hotter and Sexier: What she did to Lacus' "sweet and pure" image. Also, compare her Girl Next Door past self to her current one.
Meaningful Name: Her name has two meanings: first, it means "lake" in Dutch, which symbolizes her as Lacus's (whose name also means "lake", this time in Latin) doppelganger. Second, her name is a phonetic spelling of the English word, "mirror", to symbolize her as Lacus's Body Double.
Sanity Slippage: She eventually seems to believe — or at least tries really hard to convince herself — that she really is Lacus.
Stepford Smiler: Type A. She's all smiles on the outside, but the reality is, she's a deeply disturbed young woman who hated herself enough to try and become someone else.
Taking the Bullet: She shields Lacus from an assassin sent with her by Durandal, who apparently has had intel that Lacus, Kira, Athrun and Meyrin are taking a break in Copernicus.
Villainous Breakdown: In the last couple of episodes, for a certain definition of "villain".
"Well Done, Fangirl" Gal: Her self esteem is so low that she deeply wants to be noticed and loved, especially by her beloved/hated "Lady Lacus".
What the Hell, Hero?: Tries to pull this on Lacus upon their encounter, saying she has been helping people while Lacus was staying out of sight, ignoring the world's problems (unaware that she's busy unraveling Durandal's Destiny Plan).
Zettai Ryouiki: Wear a nice Grade A (long socks plus frilled pleated miniskirt) in the same episode she dies.
"Dearka and me? We probably should have died a long time ago."
A member of the Le Cresuet Team along with Athrun and Dearka in the first Bloody Valentine war, he was the only member of the team to remain loyal to ZAFT throughout the conflict. Now commanding his own forces as a Whitecoat, he does his best to defend the PLANTs without repeating the mistakes of his past. A relatively minor character in most of Destiny, he spends most of the series Out of Focus.
Ace Custom: He pilots a custom-colored blue Slash ZAKU Phantom.
The Atoner: Not a full-fledged example, but he's definitely trying to make up for his mistakes from two years ago. Just see his quote, above.
Badass: Going after the Extended in normal suits? Epic. Given the size of the fleet he's running, may also be Four Star Badass (ZAFT ranks are a little shaky).
Big Damn Heroes: He and Dearka do this a couple of times, the most notable being their last minute Heel Face Turn and attack on the Requiem.
Character Development: Compare the suicidally hot-blooded Yzak of SEED to the much more mature Yzak of Destiny.
Demoted to Extra: Recieves much less screentime in Destiny than he did in SEED.
Kicked Upstairs: He went from Redcoat (elite pilot) in SEED to Whitecoat (captain/commander) in Destiny. In the end, he gets kicked all the way to the ZAFT Supreme Council.
Good Is Not Nice: insulting Clyne's faction while coming to their rescue. Dearka had to stop him speaking, because they were mistaking him for an enemy.
Vitriolic Best Buds: His Character Development turned him this with Athrun, although the Foe Yay is still there. "Athrun, you bastard, what are you doing here?!" seems to have become his standard greeting.
Another veteran of the Le Creuset Team, he defected to the Three Ships Alliance near the end of the first Bloody Valentine war. Though accepted back into ZAFT, he was stripped of his red coat, and now acts as Yzak's Number Two. Like Yzak, he's only a minor character in Destiny, remaining mostly Out of Focus.
Voice Actors: Takanori Nishikawa (Japanese), Brian Dobson (English)
A ZAFT Redcoat and member of FAITH, he's assigned to the Minerva partway through the war. A survivor of the First Bloody Valentine conflict, he maintains a more optimistic attitude than Athrun, and tries his best to balance his fellow veteran's cynicism, while making friends with Shinn, Rey and the rest of the crew. He's eventually killed by Stella at the Battle of the Dardanelles. He pilots a Blaze ZAKU Phantom, and then a ZGMF-X200 GOUF Ignited.
The Ace: Treated as such by the Minerva's crew; unlike Athrun he seems to enjoy his status.
Ace Custom: His bright orange GOUF, which matches his pilot suit and his hair.
Foil: Serves as one to the more conflicted Athrun, being totally loyal to ZAFT and the Chairman and convinced of the righteousness of the war. Needless to say, Shinn wishes Athrun was more like him.
Kira's twin sister, Athrun's on-again off-again love interest, and leader of Orb. She seems to be struggling with her position when the show begins, and is eventually forced to abandon the country. Given that she's more of a Distressed Damsel now compared to her Rebellious PrincessAction Girl status two years ago, she pretty much suffered from a case of Chickification. She plays a background role for much of the rest of the plot, before returning to take back her country by force late in the series and reclaiming Orb's best-kept secret — the ORB-01 Akatsuki.
Action Girl: Returns to this role after getting the Akatsuki, and proceeds to massacre the ZAFT forces attacking her country. She even tries taking on Shinn, who is fully in Berserker territory at this point.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Once Cagalli starts fighting she's Orb's most effective soldier barring only Kira & Athrun. Having access to top of the line tech probably helps her here.
Badass Normal: She's a Natural, but fights against Coordinators on pretty even footing. Her ride probably helped.
Four Star Badass: She's Orb's Commander-in-Chief, as well as its First Representative, complete with gold-braided uniform.
Bigger Stick: The Akatsuki, which is a huge cut above the Strike Rouge.
Lightning Bruiser: The Akatsuki. It's fast, well-armed, and nearly indestructible.
Love Hurts: Whatever the status of thier relationship is by the end there's no arguing that most of her interactions with Athrun after his return to the Archangel are pretty painful to watch.
She's Back: Regains some of her Action Girl status after returning to Orb and retrieving the Akatsuki.
Took a Level in Badass: When she gets her hands on the Akatsuki, Cagalli, who until then remained a Distressed Damsel, returns to her old form from two years prior.
A high-ranking Orb politician, he's a former friend of Cagalli's and a total jerk to boot. In her absence he leads Orb from one disaster to another, most notably the alliance with Neo and Djibril, both of whom he is terrified. Ultimately, Cagalli has him arrested when she returns to Orb and gets crushed by a ZAKU soon afterwards.
Armchair Military: Yuna thinks he's a great commander because of his talent for strategy games, and as such, takes command of Orbs forces, believing that he will lead them to victory. About that...
Big Bad Wannabe: Yuna actually thinks he's a player in this game, but he's way out of his league with Durandal, Djibril, and even Neo.
Manipulative Bastard: He thinks he's one, but he's way out of league compared to the likes of Neo or even Djibril, let alone Durandal. His greatest skill seems to be using Cagalli's insecurities and father complex against her.
Replacement Scrappy: In-universe — he isn't well-liked by Orb officers for his incompetence and reliance on his blood ties with a powerful family vying for Orb leadership now that Cagalli is the only surviving member of the Athha family. And they're more than happy to pound his face in once Cagalli reappears after being "kidnapped" by Kira and orders his arrest.
The protagonist for the previous series, Kira returns to action following a botched assassination attempt upon Lacus. His general dissillusionment and inability to trust both sides of the conflict put him at odds with Athrun, Shinn and the rest of the new cast. He eventually regains his position as the main character, and leads an independent faction (a collection of Orb soldiers loyal to Cagalli and various defectors from both OMNI and ZAFT) against Durandal. Compared to the angsty teen prone to emotional fits two years ago, this time he's much more emotionally stable.Pilots the ZGMF-X10A Freedom, a long-range specialist Gundam, repaired by Murrue after being badly damaged in his fight against Rau and his Providence at the end of the First Bloody War, and later, the ZFMG-X20A Strike Freedom, the Freedom's more buffed-up Spiritual Successor, after the former was destroyed beyond repair by Shinn and his Impulse.
Asskicking Equals Authority: He's an Orb Admiral by the end of the series. Given that he's also willing to turn on anyone who disturbs the world's peace, this makes sense: if he's going to act on his own, why not make it legal for him?
Four Star Badass: Holds the rank of Admiral in the Orb military, and is revealed to have become a ZAFT commander in the finale.
Retired Badass: For two years, living with Lacus, Murrue, Andrew, Caridad Yamato (his adoptive mother), Father Malchio and his orphans in the Solomon Islands. He was forced to come back to service after an attempt on Lacus's life.
Beam Spam: With the Freedom, and especially the Strike Freedom, which now uses the very same DRAGOONs that gave him so much trouble two years ago against Le Creuset and his Providence.
Bigger Stick: The Freedom and the Strike Freedom, the latter being totally superior to any Gundam save perhaps the Infinite Justice, the Legend, and the Destiny.
Born Winner: Being a Coordinator and having access to SEED mode is a good place to be.
Honour Before Reason: Right up until Shinn used it against him to destroy the Freedom. In subsequent fights he's more active in getting rid of Shinn, frequently aiming for his cockpit. Even then, he refuses to pursue Shinn whenever the latter backs down, and passes up a few killshots.
Real Men Wear Pink: Averted when he pilots the Strike Rogue. He changed its specs so its PSA would display the Strike Gundam's original white/blue/red colours. His pilot suit, however, does have pink stripes on its shoulder boards.
The Stoic: He's certainly more serene compared to two years ago, but that doesn't stop him from showing a look of horror at the sight of the ruins of Junius Seven falling upon Earth, Shinn slicing his Freedom in half, and Rey explaining how he was meant to become another Rau Le Creuset.
Take a Third Option: He again refuses to pick a side, targeting both ZAFT and the Earth Forces.
Technical Pacifist: His new fighting style involves severing the enemies' limbs...
Shoot the Dog: ...unless a Destroy wrecking Berlin was involved, in which case he was forced to impale the cockpit, mortally wounding Stella.
Thousand Yard Stare: He's developed a pretty significant one since SEED. In his early appearances, he's usually on the beach or at the window, staring off into space.
Übermensch: He and Lacus are a messianic pair of them, rejecting the cynical, violent, racially motivated politics of the Cosmic Era in favour of their own inclusive, technically pacifistic idealism.
The Unfettered: Which really sucks for political leaders with unethical agendas. He's more than willing to turn his Gundam on anyone who disturbs the peace, and he's got the allies, intel, technology and skills to make them think twice before messing with him.
Kira's girlfriend and an important political figure, Lacus essentially dropped off the radar following the end of the First Bloody Valentine War. Forced back into the political spotlight by an assassination attempt against her, she assumes leadership of the Three Ships Alliance, pitting them against ZAFT and the Earth Forces alike. She is shown to have become the new leader of the PLANT Supreme Council following the end of the series.
The Chessmaster: Not to the same degree as Durandal, but the existence of Terminal and the mobile suit factories in the asteroids show that Lacus was ready to move in the event of renewed hostilities.
Do Not Adjust Your Set: Double subverted! She interrupts Meer's interruption of Cagalli's broadcast. And then makes it clear to the whole world that she would have none of Durandal's schemes, while also delivering a verbal bitchslap to Djibril.
Silk Hiding Steel: Just ask Durandal about that. The girl has an iron spine.
Technical Pacifist: Doesn't want to kill anyone, but if she has to, she will sic Kira on them. And it will hurt both their enemies and herself.
Tender Tears: Meer's Heroic Sacrifice, and subsequently reading an account of her life and how her extreme makeover took a heavy toll on her sanity, sent her crying into Kira's arms.
Übermensch: She and Kira are messianic versions of this.
The captain of the Archangel, and Kira's commanding officer from two years ago. Initially working as an engineer (which was, after all, her original job) in Orb, she answers Kira's call to action and reprises her role as the Archangel's captain once they enter the conflict.
Arm Cannon: Hides a really nasty gun within his prosthetic arm.
Badass: And he still hasn't lost his touch two years after the end of the war.
Handicapped Badass: He can hold his own despite having lost an eye and an arm (now replaced with a prosthetic arm which also conceals a gun just in case).
Transforming Mecha: Starts off with an Ace Custom variant of Orb's Murasame variable-fighter [nicknamed "Torasame" ("Tiger Shark") by Japanese fans] , then switches to a recaptured Gaia, now recolored according to his specifications.
An old friend of Kira's, and an Archangel crew member in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. She's a photojournalist covering the war when we first see her in Destiny, but she ends up back on the Archangel after running into her old crewmates again.
Ship Sinking: When she returns to the Archangel, chief mechanic Murdoch asks what happened to Dearka; she responds "I dumped him". Unlike countless instances of this trope, however, fans were happy to a degree since it confirms that they were an Official Couple, even if that's no longer the case.
"Everything is born into this world, and eventually, dies. That's the pure and simple truth of it."
The (late) Big Bad of the previous war, Rau makes several appearances in Kira's, Durandal's and Rey's flashbacks, many of which expand upon his life and philosophy, helping to further explain his actions in SEED, while also showing his legacy two years later.
The Corrupter: More or less responsible for Rey and Durandal's slide into villainy (for want of a better description). The flashbacks show that he was attempting to make them as nihilistic as he himself was.
Nietzsche Wannabe: Anyone who has watched SEED already know that Rau is a nihilistic psycho, but his narration in Episode 29, and Durandal's flashbacks cement his status. He seems to have been making an effort to infect both Durandal and Rey with his philosophy as well.
"People like you walk your path believing something you desire is waiting for you. I walk it to confirm that there is nothing there."
Omnicidal Maniac: And the world is more or less living in his shadow now.
Pet the Dog: His interactions with Rey, and to a lesser degree Durandal, are retroactive examples of this, and help to humanize him, if just a bit.
Posthumous Character: But for a dead guy, his influence on the plot is pretty significant.
Predecessor Villain: Take Le Creuset out of the equation and you remove Rey and Durandal's reasons for being what they are. Everything they want to do is ultimately rooted in their experiences with him and his Nietzsche WannabeOmnicidal Maniac philosophy.
The Reveal: His face is finally revealed during one of Durandal's flashbacks.
Smart People Play Chess: Definitely one of the smartestpeople in the series, and as his flashbacks demonstrate, he was capable of checkmating Durandal, both literally and philisophically.
Stronger Sibling: Inverted. He was far more dangerous than Rey, and continues to influence both he and Durandal.
Villainous Friendship: Actually seems to have had a Type I with the Chairman and Rey. It helps to humanise him somewhat.
Villain Protagonist: Unlike Destiny itself, Stargazer makes it pretty clear by the second episode he doesn't care what he does as long as he just follows orders.
Shams Couza
Voice Actors: Hiroshi Kamiya (first two episodes broadcast), Mamoru Miyano (all other appearances, including redubbed DVD release)
Be Careful What You Say: In the second episode, when the team is being attacked, Myudi casually remarks that the enemy is being very persistent, to which he replies that they probably want to have fun with her. It doesn't end well.
The Other Darrin: Hiroshi Kamiya voiced him in the first two episodes, but was injured in a car accident before recording for the third. Mamoru Miyano stepped in and took over the role even beyond the final episode, redubbing the first two for the DVD release and playing Shams in his voiced video game appearances.
Family Unfriendly Death: Her cockpit is gouged to pieces by three BuCUEs with their beam fangs, all the while she's screaming and being torn apart inside.
Dying Alone: Averted. Selene didn't wanted to die alone, therefore she saved Sven so they can die together. This get subverted in the manga where both of them survive.
Tank Goodness: Averted. Edmond's tank is anything but cool in the Cosmic Era. It's plain ordinary and useless against Humongous Mecha. Despite all this, he manage to damage and disable a Mecha-Mook.
