The cast of Schwarzesmarken. BEWARE OF SPOILERS.
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666th TSF Squadron: Schwarzesmarken
Theodor Eberbach
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-8/ Werwolf-13
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura
- Antihero: He's ruthless, paranoid, and a bit of a jerkass to the point that he seriously deliberated whether or not to shoot Katia in the VN when he first met her. He transitions from this to a true hero over the course of the anime.
- Ace Pilot: One of Schwarzesmarken's best pilots, and even Captain Irisdina recognizes his talents.
- Broken Bird: Losing his adopted family and suffering Stasi torture has left Theodor a paranoid wreck.
- Character Development: He undergoes a gradual one throughout the course of the anime, going from a Jerkass Anti-Hero who didn't care about his team mates (Katia in particular), to a genuinely caring person.
- Subverted later, as while he gains positive qualities, he picks up some negative ones along the way, such as supporting the rebellion's more morally ambiguous practices. He also doesn't pay much heed to collateral damage in his fights towards the end, ironically causing more civilian casualties than the Stasi he is fighting.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Suffered one in the hands of the Stasi when he was young.
- Heroic BSoD: Suffers one during episode 8 after Lise proves to be a Stasi spy.
- Kill the Ones You Love: To prove his loyalty to the rebellion, he is forced by the rebels to personally execute his own sister Lise, who had been a Stasi plant within the 666th and earlier killed Pham, with one bullet to the head
- Properly Paranoid: He tells Gretel that they were being followed during episode 6. Considering what he underwent when he was younger, it makes sense that he'd always be on the lookout for people that might send him back to the torture chamber.
- Protagonist Journey to Villain: Heavily implied in the true end to be the Master, in which case Schwarzesmarken may be his Start of Darkness as he does many questionably moral things by the end of all three routes.
- 13 Is Unlucky: His call sign while in the Werewolves is 13, and he's definitely bad luck for Beatrix and the rest of the Werewolves.
- Unreliable Expositor: Big time. He jumps to conclusions and his paranoia colors his outlook.
- Sees Irisdina as an angel and Beatrix as worse then Axmann, when both are flawed and damaged people capable of both kindness and cruelty.
- His ending narration portrays the evacuation of East Germany in an optimistic and positive light, while other sources portray it as a desperate, hopeless struggle that caused the Oder-Neisse Line to collapse.
- Even more obvious in the true end, where he alludes to Alternative V as a good thing.
Irisdina Bernhard
Rank: Captain
Callsign: Schwarz-1
Voiced by: Nozomi Yamamoto
- A Father to His Men: A charismatic leader, Irisdina has the Undying Loyalty of most of her squadron, and even Theodor, who starts off with absolute loathing for her, after a certain confrontation completely flips and even falls in love with her.
- Ace Pilot: Graduated top of her class and largely acknowledged as one of the best (living) pilots East Germany has.
- Anti-Hero: Lise's route reveals that she's willing to hand over prisoners to Axmann for Cold-Blooded Torture if it gives her an advantage.
- She's also willing to call in artillery strikes while battling stasi forces in Berlin despite the heavy civilian presence, something that Beatrix bitterly calls her out on during their fight.
- Arch-Enemy: Is this with Beatrix; the two have virtually grown up together and as adults would like nothing more than to rip the other apart.
- Broken Bird: Her betrayal of her brother, machinations of her former best friend turned enemy, and the responsibility of having to lead a squad through a war she's been fighting for a quarter of her life all the while living in a dystopic nightmare has shaken her, not that she lets anyone know.
- Becomes nearly too much by the end of her route.
- The Captain
- Ice Queen: Starts out as one, especially towards Theodor.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Warms up towards Theodor, but doesn't start showing romantic interest in him until it's nearly too late to act on them.
- My Greatest Failure: Turning in her brother Jürgen to the Stasi, and executing him, five years prior to the events of Schwarzesmarken.
- Comes to see abandoning Beatrix to Axmann and the Stasi after her brother's death to be one. Made especially painful when she realizes at the end that despite everything, Beatrix still had good in her and wanted to be her friend deep down, which contributes to her Angst Coma at the end of her route.
- So Unfunny, It's Funny: Her jokes are considered to be this by the other 666th members.
- Spared By Adaptation: Enters a coma in her route and is still fighting in Lise's route.
- Tareme Eyes: Very apparent in the prequel, where it's used to contrast her against Beatrix's Tsurime Eyes
- We Used to Be Friends: Apart from being rivals, Beatrix and Irisdina were virtually sisters once upon a time.
- In her route, they rekindle their friendship to a certain extent.
Katia Waldheim/Ursula Strachwitz
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-7 (replacing Inghild)
Voiced by: Minami Tanaka
- Death by Adaptation: Doesn't make it in Irisdina's route.
- Defector from Decadence: Ostensibly one; she defects from the Bundeswehr and the West (which, from the Socialist world-view is decadent) to the East. Subverted; she is an East German by birth, and "defects" back to East Germany amidst the chaos caused by the BETA invasion, hoping to find her father, a high-ranking NVA officer who had sent her to the West as a child for her safety.
- Heroic BSoD: Suffers a brief one during episode 3, due to witnessing first-hand the horrors of what the BETA does to humans.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness
- Memento MacGuffin: A single photo of her with her father is her only remaining memento and link with her past and real identity. Theodor, paranoid that the Stasi will find out and send her and all involved with her to the torture chamber for some happy fun time, burns it in front of her.
- Replacement Goldfish: Theodor treated her as one for his sister Lise, until Lise shows up later.
- Token Mini-Moe: Younger and more naive than the rest of the girls on the cast.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Expresses the hope that Germans can lay aside their differences in the face of the BETA, and as a result grates upon Theodor most of the time.
Lise Hohenstein
Rank: Second Lieutenant / First Lieutenant (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit)
Callsign:Schwarz-9 / Werwolf-2
Voiced by: Yoshino Nanjo
- Big Brother Attraction: Loves her adopted elder brother Theodor deeply, so much so that she'd be willing to do anything and sacrifice herself completely for him.
- Broken Bird: The most broken one in a series full of broken birds.
- Bulliedinto Depression: By many others in the Stasi, because it is known her family tried to escape she is called a traitor by the other pilots in her first squadron despite the fact that she now works for them and is constantly yelled at and treated like dirt. To make it worse it is also known by others in the Stasi that she is a Honey Trap who sleeps with her targets for information but not the reasons why as Axmann's threat to have her brother killed if she doesn't do it is not widespread knowledge. Because of this they would also often call her a whore and graffiti her tsf with slurs and insults. The abuse she receives from everyone on top of the treatment she gets from Axmann and the exhausting overwork of doing both jobs cripples her spirit and leads to frequent tears even long after she thought she had cried all she could and her wishing for death. The karmic fate of her first squadron being eaten by the BETA results in a cathartic comeuppance for them. This bullying from others in the Stasi and abuse from Axmann stops when Lise enters Beatrix's squadron the Werewolves and she is grateful she is no longer being treated so poorly, except for in the anime version where she is still looked down upon.
- Defiled Forever: She is gang raped and forced into sexual slavery by her rapists, she cries out in sorrow that even if Theodor rescues her he can never undo what she has endured.
- Driven to Suicide: In Irisdina's route. Killing Katia in a fit of rage was what finally pushed her over the edge
- Femme Fatale: One of the Stasi's top assassins, she was trained to use any means, including her body, to get close to targets for assassination, information, or otherwise capture. As a seductress, Axmann himself said that none could resist her charms.
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in this manner during her introduction. When she outs herself as a Stasi spy, she lets her hair down.
- Heroic Sacrifice: She endured gang rape, torture, mental conditioning, being the Stasi's Sex Slave and doing the Stasi's dirtiest work, as a price for keeping her brother alive and breathing.
- Long Lost Sibling: Theodor thought that she died along with their parents, at the hands of the Stasi all those years ago, and then she joins the 666th. Not a few members of the squadron were of the opinion that she was an obvious Stasi plant; they were right.
- Murder-Suicide: Kills Schmidt and the rest of Stasi high command before committing suicide in Irisdina's route
- Please, I Will Do Anything!: The sole reason Theodor was released from Stasi torture and avoided execution was that Lise begged Axmann to do so, in exchange for submitting completely to him. What followed was definitely not played lightly.
- Spared By Adaptation: In her route, Theodore decides to save her life and be with her having decided that she is whats most important to him, as he is to her. Giving her a potential second chance at life and getting the one thing she always wanted; a return to a normal life with Theodor, in love, and always together.
- The Tease: To Theodor. She loved to tease him about his affinity for blondes, and tease him with her developing body when they reached puberty, teasing him for noticing her growing breasts and hips and would press up against him and hold his hand to make him blush even more. Amongst other instances she liked to pull pranks on him as well. Also to Katia who she would tease for having the propensity to urinate herself when scared.
- Undying Loyalty: To Theodor. From the very beginning she lived for his sake alone, as explicitly stated in both the novels and the anime. Even when he fights against her she will in the end do whatever she can to help him whether its suiciding charging the Stasi HQ to assure his victory in one route, to acting crazy enough to get him to execute her rather than die with her as he was about to do in another.
- Walking Spoiler
- Yandere: After enduring endless torment at the hands of Axmann for the sake of keeping Theodor alive and the hope that they can one day be together again, the thought that he could potentially replace her in his heart after all that or abandon her is too much to bear. As she comes to see Katia and Irisdina in particular as a possible romantic rival and also believing that they must have brainwashed or seduced Theodor into becoming a rebel, she snaps.
Gretel Jeckeln
Rank: First Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-4
Voiced by: Kiyono Yasuno
- Badass Bureaucrat: As The Political Officer, she has thorough knowledge of Party doctrine and procedures, and uses them to stymie Stasi efforts to have Katia brought in for "questioning".
- Blackmail: Negotiates with an officer who initially refused her request by threatening to expose his illegal activities during episode 6.
- Boyish Short Hair: Shown with one in the epilogue when Annett visits her in the hospital.
- The Load: She's an average pilot working in a team of elites, and Theodor has to save her ass several times during the series' initial Laserjagd.
- Override Command: As the squadron commissar her TSF has override codes for the entire squadron, which in principle would allow her to slave the rest's machines to her own and lock out their pilots from their controls.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Briefly during episode 4, where she constantly clashes with Irisdina's orders so they can put up a good showing and improve East Germany's image. She realizes her mistake and actually contributes to the success of the operation.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Her plan for avoiding the Stasi during their coup was to change clothes and remove her glasses. Lampshaded in that she was easily recognized by the leader of another rebel faction who was looking for her and told her how her "disguise" was not going to fool anybody, especially the Stasi.
- The Political Officer: Serves as the commissar for the 666th. While she'll usually advocate her team's interest, she's doesn't shy away from handing out summary executions as seen in one of the VN's bad ends.
- Token Good Teammate: A variation. On the side of the rebels, she was the only one who objected to the inhumane treatment of their captive opponents (such as forcing Theodor to execute his Stasi spy sister Lise as a proof of his loyalty)... and gets threatened with the same treatment for her troubles.
Pham Thi Lan
Rank: First Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-2
Voiced by: Emiri Katou
- All Asians Know Martial Arts: As the Stasi Lieutenant holding her hostage learned the hard way.
- Anime Chinese Girl: Fits the stereotype but she's not Chinese.
- Cool Big Sis: Tells Katia to refer to her as "big sis" and is treated by everybody in the Schwarzesmarken as such.
- Immigrant Parents: Pham is a daughter of Vietnamese guest workers in East Germany.
Annett Hosenfeld
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-6
Voiced by: Chika Anzai
- BFS: Her main weapon is a cleaver almost as tall as her TSF.
- It's All My Fault: Inghild's death hits Annett particularly hard, as she was the one who convinced Inghild to get into TSF piloting despite her being more suited for support roles.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Actually contributes to getting her best friend killed, leading to even more guilt and trauma.
- Tomboy: Not as feminine or refined as the other girls, even preferring to wear sporty clothes when in civvies.
Sylwia Krzasińska
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-5
Voiced by: Michiyo Murase
- Broken Bird: Was betrayed by her best friend and got raped along with a companion as a result. She exacts her revenge on said hitherto-best friend but was left with nothing to live for... until she met Irisdina.
- Interrupted Suicide: Was going to kill herself after getting revenge on her former friend, until Irisdina stepped in and stopped her.
- Official Couple: With Walther.
- Tareme Eyes: Before being broken; she gets Tsurime eyes as a Broken Bird in the main series.
Walther Kruger
Rank: First Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-3
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
- Old Soldier: Evokes this look with his gray hair, despite having the age of 29. Then again, in-universe, to survive to that age while serving in the infantry (with its horrible attrition rates) part of the way lets him qualify.
- Official Couple: With Sylwia.
- Up Through the Ranks: Walther, the 666th's staff officer, started out in the NVA as a foot soldier, and while so enlisted survived the meat grinder that was Operation Palaiologos.
Inghild Bronikowski
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Schwarz-7
Voiced by: Kaori Fukuhara
- Kids Are Cruel: As a member of a disgraced Junker
family, and thus a Class Enemy, Inghild suffered bullying and discrimination as a child. - Mercy Kill: Is mortally-wounded after a Destroyer smashes into her TSF and a Grappler crushes her cockpit block; Irisdina then administers the coup-de-grace.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: While her story is greatly elaborated upon in Requiem, she dies in the very first chapter of the LN.
Ministry for State Security (Stasi)
Beatrix Brehme
Rank: Major
Callsign: Werwolf-1
Voiced by: Yukari Tamura
- Ace Pilot: She and Irisdina competed neck and neck for top grad back at the TSF Air Academy. She's also considered the best pilot in a battalion that recruits from the NVA's best of the best. She easily juggles half the 666th by her self (who are one of Europe's best squadrons), and dominates Irisdina in their duels.
- Adaptational Villainy: The anime's take on her.
- A Father to His Men: In parallel with Irisdina and the 666th, Beatrix is charismatic and has the Undying Loyalty of all the Werewolves.
- Averted in the anime, where she takes obvious delight in Lise's anguish over Theodor and her squad hate one another. One wonders why Lise remains so loyal to the Stasi when everyone treats her badly.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Is this in Bernhard im Schatten. Irisdina remarks that she's very aloof, better developed, and more "mature" than the other girls at her school. She gradually loses the aloofness once she starts warming up to the Bernhards, but retains the physical aspects well into adulthood. Subverted, as her aloofness was caused from depression and lack of social skills, and rather than making her popular, makes her lonely and an outcast.
- Anti-Villain: Most evident in the two routes outside of Katia's. Sure, she's a caustic Jerkass
Magnificent Bitch, but given her terrible life, that's somewhat understandable, and she still sometimes shows she has a heart when her mask starts to crack. She still has a code of honor, valuing loyalty tremendously, and basically scuttles her chances of winning to uphold her bargain with the 666th.- Other instances of this is attempting to direct the fighting to outside of Berlin to minimize civilian casualties. She even becomes angry when Iridina calls in an artillery barrage on her in Berlin, leading to tons of collateral damage.
- She comforts Marai before putting her out of her misery.
- She facilitates Lise's revenge against Axmann, then checks up on her afterwards to see if she's alright after what Axmann did to her.
- Arch-Enemy: Definitely Irisdina's; the two have spent virtually half their lives dealing with one another in some capacity or another.
- Subverted, as what she really wanted was for things to go back to the way they were, with Iris as her friend rather then enemy.
- Is one for Theodor too, as he sees her as a manifestation of every single evil in the Stasi.
- Bastard Understudy: Was this to Axmann. It's unknown what exactly he did to her, but looking at the others who endured his lessons, it might go a long way to explaining why Beatrix is so evil in Schwarzesmarken.
- Big Bad: The biggest threat to the 666th and the one who orchestrates most of their misery throughout much of the story. However, she only takes issue to Theodor and Katia because of their connection to Irisdina.
- Broken Bird: Starts off as one in the prequels, where she's extremely depressed and lonely, so much so that Jürgen notes that she gave off a suicidal aura when he first met her. Gets better before becoming even more broken after Jürgen's death.
- Death Seeker: Partially became this after Irisdina abandoned her and Jürgen died. She even smiles in relief as Theodor stabs her in the visual and light novels. Only "partially" this, because her wish to carry out Jürgen's ideals is slightly greater then her death seeking tendencies. But then, if her plan was carried out, she'd likely end up dead holding off the BETA anyways.
- More obvious in Irisdina's route, where she chooses to die on the battlefield at Irisdina's hands after she'd thrown away her chances of victory to save her old friend. Then again, even with promises of amnesty from Iris, the other rebels would have likely executed her and her Werewolves anyways.
- The Dreaded: Due to her machine and ace pilot status.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Axmann's depravity and Schmidt's selfishness greatly disgusts her in the light novel and she tries to avoid both of them when possible.
- Averted in the anime, where Beatrix is quite eager to serve Axmann and carry out atrocities with him. She might be even more sadistic than him.
- Evil Former Friend: Along with being a Rival Turned Evil, she and Irisdina used to be as close as sisters.
- Evil Mentor: Though she was much nicer to Lise than Axmann ever was, to the point that Lise serves her out of genuine loyalty than fear.
- Fallen Hero: She was the main heroine and love interest of the prequel Bernhard im Schatten. The events which led to her condition during the events of Schwarzesmarken are not clear, but involves Irisdina turning in her brother Jürgen, Beatrix's boyfriend, to the Stasi.
- Feminine Women Can Cook: It's her favorite hobby, or at least was.
- Hate Sink: Definitely one in the anime. She's by far the most sadistic character and is shown with virtually no redeeming qualities. If there is an onscreen atrocity, chances are that she's the perpetrator.
- Serves as one for Theo, who blames her for the majority of his problems.
- Hero of Another Story: Co-main heroine of Bernhard im Schatten, as well as its primary love interest.
- Kickthe Dog: Nearly every single appearance in the anime shows her causing or taking pleasure in someone else's terror, pain, or death to anyone, even those who are loyal to her. It's to the point that even with the reveals into Lise's past, many still consider her to be far more sadistic than Axmann.
- Kindness Button: Loyalty in the face of great adversity, especially if it is for a lover or family member.
- Was the main reason why she comforted Marai at the end of her Cold-Blooded Torture, even after getting the information she needed.
- Was also the reason for her recruiting Lise to the Werewolves, saving her from Axmann.
- Majorly Awesome
- Definitely averted in the anime. Beatrix is rude and even cruel to the people serving under her.
- The Mourning After: The death of Jürgen Bernhard is still raw for her five years later.
- My Girl Back Home: Was this in the prequel for Jürgen while he was away testing MiGs and fighting the BETA. Luckily, the photos and letters she sent to him were not fatal.
- Official Couple: With Jürgen Bernhard. Before he gets sold out and and put to death by Irisdina.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Definitely if you're on the wrong side of her; Beatrix is exceptionally cunning, ruthless, and evil.
- The Sociopath: Along with being a Jerkass. While its debatable if she's one in the source material, she's definitely one in the anime.
- In the visual novel, this is more of a mask she uses to protect herself, but there are moments where it cracks and she shows some compassion.
- Tsundere: Was this to Jürgen in the prequel until they began dating.
- Tsurime Eyes: Especially apparent in the prequel, where it's used to contrast her against Irisdina's more innocent looking Tareme Eyes.
- Troll: Beatrix's sense of humor often times comes at the expense of others.
- One of the main reasons why she could never turn Theo over to her cause in Lise's route was that she kept on teasing or bullying him.
- The Tease: To many of her Stasi compatriots' chagrin.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Adult Beatrix is a complete reversal from her sweet and love-struck teenage self.
- Villainous Rescue: Twice. She rescues the 666 and other NVA units when they become entrapped by BETA, though Irisdina accuses her of purposely delaying the rescue until the NVA were in dire straits to make herself look like a hero. Note that in the anime, she purposely ignores NVA distress calls and does not even sortie unlike her LN counterpart.
- The second time, she saves everybody when her boss, Schmidt decides to solve the rebellion and BETA offensive by turning East Germany into a radioactive crater.
- Rescues the 666th in Irisdina's route when she allies with them against the BETA.
- Rescues Theo in Lise's route by diving in front of Irisdina.
- Yandere: Not as obvious as Lise, but she will execute Jürgen's will no matter the cost to her or others.
- You Are in Command Now: She assumes command of the 101st after the previous commander was betrayed to the Stasi by a relative, and got executed. Said commander happens to be her beloved Jürgen.
- Villain Has a Point: We'll never see how her plans would have worked out, but we do see that her predictions about the limitations of Katia's and Theo's ideals turned out to be prophetic.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Wanted to turn East Germany into a buffer to give the rest of Europe an opportunity to evacuate.
Farka
Rank:Second Lieutenant
Callsign: Werwolf-6
- Adapted Out: Wouldn't work with the anime's more villainous take on the Stasi.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Ends up dying attempting to save Lise from Theo and Annete in the light novels. Ends up doing this in Lise's route too, where she makes a last stand holding off rebel forces as Theo rescues Lise.
- Token Good Teammate: The most overtly kind and one of the more selfless of the Stasi characters, to the point that she disobeys her orders from Schmidt to fire on unarmed protesters, and helps Theo save Lise in Lise's route by holding off rebel forces.
Heinz Axmann
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Voiced by: Ken Narita
- Dirty Coward: Will hide behind his subordinates and use them as human shields.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Otherwise, Jürgen may still be alive.
- Big Bad: Though he isn't the main adversary in the main story, he's the big bad and arch-nemesis of Jürgen's story.
- Is the big bad and final villain of Lise's route in the visual novel.
- The Corrupter: To many people. He even attempts it on Gretel she refuses and is shot for it.
- Enemy Mine: Teams up temporarily with the rebellion against the Schmidt faction, offering them TSF's from his secret armory in return for a position in the rebellion's future government.
- Evil Mentor: "Mentored" Beatrix and Lise and many other Stasi.
- Evil Redhead
- Greater-Scope Villain: Serves as Beatrix's mentor and direct superior. Though he doesn't directly antagonize the 666th throughout the story like Beatrix does, Axmann is basically the Big Bad of Theodor's character arc, even if Theo doesn't realize it. Axmann was responsible for killing Theo's parents, having him tortured (resulting in Theo's paranoia), and mindbreaking his sister, Lise into becoming a Stasi plant. On a larger scale, he's also manipulating most if not all factions in the series, and in the end takes down both Gretel and Irisdina before dying. Not that Irisdina, or anyone else knew while clandestinely negotiating with him; he was that good in hiding his tracks. Furthermore, Axmann is responsible for Jürgen's death, resulting in Beatrix's Start of Darkness and creating the primary drive of conflict between her and the 666th.
- I Have Your Wife: A common tactic of his when breaking those he takes a fancy to. His entire manipulation and breaking of Lise hinges upon the fact that, if Lise fails to do whatever his bidding is, or confessed anything to Theodor, Theodor will be re-arrested, be shown recordings of Lise's mindbreaking, and then put to death.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast
- No Historical Figures Were Harmed: His character is based off of the "Blonde Beast," Reinhard Heydrich, the second in command of the SS who was infamously known as the "Hangman of Europe" and architect of the holocaust. Like Heydrich, Axmann has a disdain for ideology, considering those around him who genuinely believed in the Reich to be below him. The only thing that mattered to Heydrich was gaining power, and he'd even use the holocaust as a means to get it. Even Hitler himself noted that Heydrich had a Lack of Empathy, calling him the man with an iron heart.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Will gleefully rape or have girls gangraped and engage in human trafficking, he forces Lise into sexual slavery and molests her on more than on occasion.
- Red Baron: The "Brown Beast".
- Sadist
- Slimeball: Axmann is the very embodiment of this trope.
- The Sociopath: All Axmann cares about is himself. He'll back-stab anyone so long as it puts him in a better position.
- The Unfettered: He "trains" his subordinates not to be bound by conventional notions of morality. Witness how he ordered Lise to beat up three civilians and an infant to death using just a rock as her "final examination" for induction into the Stasi.
- Walking Spoiler
- Younger and Hipper: Not so much the "hipper" part, but Axmann was de-aged from his 50s to late 20s/early 30s when the light novel was adapted into the visual novel and anime.
Michael Sohne
- The Dragon: Never far from Axmann's side and assists him in all his activities. He's Axmann's torturer's assistant during interrogations to, handing Axmann the various tools he needs.
- Sadist: Much like his boss. Whenever others are shown horrified at Axmann's activities, he's in the background smiling with glee or anticipation as he watches Axmann work his victim over. Crosses over with Soft-Spoken Sadist at times, as Sohne has a quieter, more subdued voice then many of the other male characters.
- Undying Loyalty: To Axmann, unbelievably. He even pulls a gun on a whole squad of soldiers after Lise slashes Axmann's throat in Irisdina's route
- He also shields Axmann and puts himself at great risk when fighting Theodor in Lise's route.
Erich Schmidt
Rank: Major General
Voiced by:
- Bad Boss: Is this to Beatrix in the LN, attempting to kill her in a variety of ways and taunting her about her past with the Bernhards or the interrogations he forces her to do (knowing that she's disgusted by torture).
- Calls her a "big breasted bimbo" and "idiot woman" behind her back.
- Bald of Evil: Which is usually hidden by his hat.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul
- Greater-Scope Villain: Beatrix and Axmann's boss, though he has difficulty controlling them. Is directly responsible for ordering some of the more callous actions they commit however.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Willing to use Soviet-supplied nukes against the BETA to protect East Germany. Subverted when Beatrix reveals that he's a double agent working for the Soviets.
Other East Germans
Jürgen Bernhard
- Ace Pilot: The Ace of Schwarzesmarken. Jürgen was the top graduate at the Air Academy and was chosen to be the DDR's representative for the Soviet's TSF program. Being one of the first great TSF aces, Jürgen pioneered many of the tactics and fighting techniques that were used and refined by later pilots throughout Muv-Luv such as Laserjagd.
- Char Clone: While not really a villain, his ideals are the inspiration of much of the conflicts in Schwarzesmarken.
- Dates the main villain, is the older brother of one of the love interest, has blonde hair and blue eyes, secretly working to overturn the order of his country, plays politics, was the child of a disgraced elite, and most importantly, chooses red as his ace colors (though mostly because red was the color he associated with his lover).
- Stands as a foil to Theodor Eberbach
- Chivalrous Pervert: Admits that the only reason he goes to his sister's swim meets is to ogle cute girls in swim wear and jokes that it's his only reason for living. Beatrix trolls him about it later.
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Theodor, though in this case he's the prequel's protagonist. Jürgen is outgoing, funny, charismatic, trusting but has a traumatic family life, sticks himself into situations that are far over his head, and ends up sacrificing himself for his sister. Not to mention that his love interest is very much the opposite of Irisdina, Theodor's primary love interest.
- Hero of Another Story: The protagonist of the prequel Bernhard im Schatten.
- Living Emotional Crutch: To Beatrix, who literally says that she can't live without him.
- Living Legend: Was built up as this by the NVA and press, which gave him enough political weight to throw around to petition for more TSF funding and development in East Germany.
- It would also lead to the Stasi attempting to recruit him for their newly formed TSF battalion.
- The Lost Lenore: To Irisdina and especially Beatrix.
- Tragic Keepsake: The tapes that he left for Beatrix in his grandfather's tomb. Also overlaps with Memento MacGuffin, as they contain his last wishes in them.
- Official Couple: With Beatrix Brehme.
- Posthumous Character: In Schwarzesmarken. In the anime adaptation, Irisdina was implied to be the one who executed him.
- Confirmed by Irisdina in Martyrs, and let's just say that unlike Gretel's romanticized, clean take on it, the actual execution of Jürgen was much more dirty, brutal, and emotional.
Kurt Griebel
Rank: Master Sergeant
Voiced by:Sou Takeuchi
An NVA soldier stationed in Fort Neuhagen. Unlike the 666th, his unit is an infantry unit. When Katia and Pham were incapacitated, he and the other soldiers of the garrison took the two in to be treated.
- A Father to His Men: he is very well regarded by his squad, especially his sergeant, Vivian.
- The Mourning After: Fell in love with a member of his old tank crew, an Ukrainian girl named Anna. The BETA got to her. He still thinks about and mourns her two years later.
- Older Than They Look: he is 18-years old, but his stubble made him look older due to the war.
Vivian Schweinsteiger
Rank: Sergeant
Voiced by: Moemi Odaka
- Girlish Pigtails
- Half the Man He Used to Be: She was bifurcated into two by a BETA blocking their escape route.
Suzy Cave
Rank:
Voiced by: Natsuko Kuwatani
A former NVA officer that joined the rebellion against the Stasi. She was previously tortured by Axmann's men, and has a good reason why she considers the alliance between Axmann and the rebel faction a bad idea.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Suzy has no qualms using Stasi tactics (such as torture and summary executions) on captured loyalists, and threatens Gretel, who had objected to the use of said tactics, with the same treatment.
Franz Heim
Rank:Major General
Voiced by: Mugihito
A former colleague of Alfred Strachwitz, Katia's father, who is considering a coup against the Stasi.
Abel Brehme
Rank:Chairman of the State Planning Commission
Beatrix Brehme's father.
- Abusive Parents: There's a reason why Beatrix was suicidal when Jürgen met her. Abel sees his daughter as nothing more then another tool of his.
- Big Bad: In the running with Axmann as Bernhard im Schatten's main antagonist.
- Control Freak: Has his daughter trailed and watched by Stasi agents and attempts to dictate every aspect of her life, even forcing her into the Stasi when she was 16 so he could have better control in the stasi.
- Magnificent Bastard: Like father, like daughter. Abel was the man responsible for turning a simple, but powerful internal spy agency into what we see by the time of Schwarzesmarken. He also plays all the sides against one another, showing a sympathetic face to Jürgen and the NVA all the while playing the stasi too.
- Poor Judgeof Character: Sure, prop up and aid Heinz Axmann and hand your daughter over to him; like that won't backfire.
- Sure, give the Stasi a military and even TSF arm only accountable to themselves.
- Predecessor Villain: Looks like a Brehme will always be the villain to Schwarzesmarken.
Bundeswehr
Circe Steinhoff
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Voiced by: Manami Numakura
- No True Scotsman: accuses the East Germans of not being true Germans for becoming communists.This stems from her family whose grandfather was a Luftwaffe ace during World War II.
Joachim Belke
Rank: Major
Voiced by: Hiroshi Tsuchida
