The era's current releases as of 2019, listed chronologically from top left.
This subpage lists the characters of Sound Horizon's "Second Era" or "New Era" albums, the era that practically took off with Aramary's resignation from the band. The era officially started with the release of the band's first Maxi Single, Shounen wa Tsurugi wo..., as well as the arrival of threenote brand-new singers, Yuuki Yoshida a.k.a. YUUKI, Remi Tanaka a.k.a. REMI, and Kaori Oda a.k.a. KAORI, who is also a member of Yuki Kajiura's group FictionJunction. Their arrival also marked the beginning of Sound Horizon's tradition of ever-changing members and seemingly endless cameos from renowned voice actors, some being Akio Ōtsuka, Norio Wakamoto and so many, many, many more.
One of this era's most defining characteristics may be how significantly more approachable the songs sound to new listeners—it has been observed that many newcomers got hooked into the band by listening to songs from this era. It might be because from Shonen wa... onwards, Revo has began to shift from the experimental, narration-driven style of his previous albums to a more balanced approach between story and music, transferring the bulk of the story's narrative into sung lyrics, reducing the presence of spoken narrations—from Märchen onwards, many of the newer songs have been proven to be perfectly able to tell their own respective stories in a smoothly flowing narrative without the assistance of a narrator. It is also noticeable how Revo increasingly avoids the first era's eerie clash between cheerful music and horrifying lyrics, arguably improving the songs' atmospheres and the listeners' experience immensely as a result. Beginning with Seisen no Iberia, the band has also began experimenting with foreign narrations, mostly in English (by Ike Nelson) and German (by Sascha), adding a nice touch of immersion to the albums' various European settings.
These fresh takes earned the adoration of fans and newbies alike, launching the band into significant fame that pretty much skyrocketed following the releases of Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido and Märchen—which famously included Hatsune Miku as one of its lead vocals. Since then, Revo has been keen on expanding the band's reach to a wider audience under the name Linked Horizon, referring to the band's act of "linking" their music with the fictional universes of other media such as Bravely Default and Attack on Titan, which the band is now pretty much renowned internationally for.
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Shōnen wa Tsurugi wo ...
The boy who took up the sword
In the boy's hand is a sword; in his back, a pair of wings; in his eyes, the future itself.
The single's protagonist. There is little that can actually be said about him as a character in his own right since the stories presented in the single are told in a disjointed narrative that seems to be hardly connected to each other, let alone himselfnote , for that matter. His actual significance to the Sound Horizon universe remains highly speculated among fans even now. Not only is he physically identical to the boy drawn above Chronica in Chronicle 2nd's album cover and the boy who ran away from his Doomed Hometown with his friend in Roman, his red-black mysterious longsword is also used as a malicious instrument of revenge by Laurencin and Elefseus in the latter album and Moira, respectively.- Break the Cutie: Analyzed exclusively from the single's narrative, the boy had to deal with the loss of his hometown, its people, and his dearest friend, and that's doubtless more than bad enough already for his innocence. However, taking off from that interpretation and linking it to the famous fanon that identifies him as both Hiiro no Fuusha's protagonist and Laurencin from "Miezaru Ude" makes the aftermath even worse,
as it would make his whole character arc practically end with him growing up as a vengeful, bitter murderous maniac who's more than likely going to end up getting his own ass handed to him soon by his victim's son. - Doomed Hometown: His hometown gets destroyed by a bunch of barbaric attackers in "Hiiro no Fuusha". He solemnly laments over it in the next track, "Kamigami ga Aishita Rakuen".
- Early-Bird Cameo: Many fans seem to agree that his official first appearance is in Chronicle 2nd. In the album's jacket, that is.
- My Greatest Failure: He bitterly regrets his cowardice in "Hiiro no Fuusha", as he impulsively decided to turn his back against the bandit horde that kidnapped his friend and run for his own life. He futilely promises to do better "next time" at the end of the song, if only to at least get himself killed together with her instead of abandoning her to an implied far more horrible fate.
- Mystical White Hair: Which fits into his overall character—he is an ethereally beautiful mysterious boy armed with a mystical sword that might or might not be malicious in nature.
- The Voiceless: He never actually sings or speak here. The band is the one actively telling us stories about him instead in three separate tracks, the overall manner of which rather resembles heroic epics.
Roman
Hiver Laurant
Reality. Fantasy. In the world of Roman, who is the one that uttered the lie?
Played by: Revo
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa
"This is a [story] <Roman> of mine, who died before I was born.
Ah, though we may not meet again, you are now living in your own [story] <Roman>.
We shall sing of it so you may not be lost."
The album's protagonist. He is actually the soul of a stillborn child, and his curiosity about life and death prompts him to send his two dolls, Violette and Hortense, out into the world to find stories revolving around these subjects.- Alternate Self: He has three: one is himself, the ghost of the stillborn child, the second one is the man who digs for the Réine Michéle only to get killed abruptly by the mine's greedy owner as soon as he finds the ore, and the last one is the thief, who (maybe nearly) steals the diamond known as—surprise surprise—the Réine Michéle.
- Big Brother Instinct: In the manga, both of his incarnations, namely the digger and the thief, are shown to be an affectionate and wise older brother to Noël, and their reckless actions are ultimately done for the sake of her well-being.
- Convenient Miscarriage: Well, more so "heartbreaking" than "convenient", really, especially after taking certain songs (like "Honoo") into account. It's also what sets the album in motion: Hiver is actually the soul of a stillborn, and his curiosity about life and death, as well as a desire to be born into the world, is what prompts him to send the dolls out to find stories revolving around those subjects.
- Fisher King: Hiver in the manga. He's obviously not in our world, but the very little we see of the... mysterious place he stays in seems pretty parallel to winter, what with its emptiness and open space of white. Probably makes some lovely echoes, too.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: He is trapped by Michéle Malebranche in a loop of life and death across multiple universes—in one universe he's the brother of the dollmaker Noël, in another a thief who steals the jewel into which Michéle has reincarnated, and this one Hiver seems to be a child who dies a stillborn. When he finds another mother in a new universe who will bear him, perhaps the cycle will only begin all over again. Do bear in mind that Roman's plotline is impossible to deduce from just a single interpretation, however.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Laurencin in "Norowareshi Houseki".
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: The one who sets the trend for Sound Horizon's future male protagonistsnote , it seems.
- Loveable Rogue: His "thief" Alternate Self in the manga.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: In "Norowareshi Houseki".Hiver: Ah, we have toiled so hard until now, my dear Noël.(Such good luck!)Hiver: Ah, now with puffed chest I can see you o— *thud*
- Meaningful Name: Hiver is the French word for "winter". He is named such by his mother because he is a "Child of Winter", i.e. a stillborn baby who died during the eponymous season.
- Mystical White Hair: He's a white-haired man who happens to be the ghost of a stillborn baby, and may or may not have lived two past lives as a treasure hunter and a jewel thief.
- Promotion to Parent: Alternate!Hiver in the manga has been a backbone to Noël ever since their parents died when they were both still very young. Noël's also got her share of help, too, as a dollmaker herself.
- Pretty in Mink: His trademark blue velvet coat.
- Recursive Reality: The manga has his sister trap him in this, in the form of what we could perhaps call "a Roman within a Roman". Driven mad by her own self-denial of her brother's death, Noël tried to bring Hiver back to her side by "reviving" him as a character of her story, the jewel thief. This story thus became Roman's "false" Alternate Universe in which none of its characters ever suffer the heartbreaking losses they experienced in the album.
- Sequel Song: "Fuyu no Dengon", the song he sang at the 3rd Territorial Expansion Tour, is his response to "11-moji no Dengon"/"Le vrai Message", which was sung by his mother. In "Fuyu no Dengon" Hiver expressed gratitude for his mother's uplifting message before proceeding to say that he is already happy where he is, and that he is also happy for the single fact that it was her who brought him into the world, no matter how brief it turned out to be.
- The Stoic: He's rather quiet and detached in the manga adaptation.
Violette and Hortense
We are wandering windmills spinning in reminiscence; whichever horizon we may come upon, we shall bring to life a song there...
Played by: KAORI (Violette), YUUKI (Hortense)
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (Violette), Yukari Tamura (Hortense)
"I wonder if a story exists there ..."
Hiver's two dolls, who became his companions after his mother placed them on his coffin. Violette is associated with death, while Hortense is associated with life.They reappear briefly in Nein's 7th track, "Namida de wa Kesenai Honoo".
- Catchphrase: "Soko ni Roman wa aru no kashira?" note
- Creepy Twins: More prominently so in the live, where they move in a stilted, mechanical fashion, showing minimal facial expressions. An example
. - Dark Is Not Evil: Even though Violette is the one associated with death and the dark of the night, she never shows any signs of being any creepier or more amoral than Hortense. The stories she collected actually deal more with the struggles of life than the ones Hortense did. In fact, in the song Honoo, she's the one "swaying with joy," while Hortense is the one "wet with sadness." Then again, considering the situation, there may be more than one way to interpret that.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Dress in this. In the original live concert, their bow ties are replaced with elegant cravats.
- Facial Markings: Each of the dolls has one in one of her cheeks. Violette's right cheek has a moon-shaped marking, while Hortense's left has a sun-shaped one.
- Expy: Blond, twin Elegant Gothic Lolita Ridiculously Human Robot Girls? Now where has that shown up before?
- Greek Chorus: To Hiver in "Asa to Yoru no Monogatari".
- Light Is Not Good: ...meanwhile, Hortense, despite being associated with life and the cheerfulness of the morning, collects some of the darkest stories of the album. Ironically, it is the stories she collected that deal with death and loss the most.
- Robot Girl: Though they're actually the embodiment of twin dolls given to the stillborn Hiver by his mother on his burial, so not technically robots as much as maybe golems, they still use very stilted and emotionless language, and the remix of "Asa to Yoru no Roman" clearly has them singing in a mechanical voice, not to mention that in live performances, KAORI and YUUKI always perform them by moving in a stilted, mechanical matter.
The Blond-Haired Laurant
Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita
"I cannot quite get ahold of this life.
However...this pain in my arm...this here is proof that I have lived."
The protagonist of the song "Miezaru Ude". Once a soldier serving proudly under General Alvarez's banner, his life has been turned upside down ever since a certain red-haired soldier with a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek lopped off one of his arms in a duel.In the manga, he is named Léon. The novel, on the other hand, names him Serge.
- An Arm and a Leg: One of his arms is severed clean by the Red-Haired Laurant, and seeing how important an intact set of limbs is for a soldier, the loss has since plunged him into a life of hardship, relegating him to a wife-beating miserable drunk.
- Bumbling Dad: As Etoile's father in the manga. But he's certainly given his best.
- Domestic Abuse: His alcoholism-induced rage led him to beat his pregnant wife one too many times until she finally left him to save their unborn child. If you contribute to the theory that he is Etoile's father, this may be a plausible reason as to why the girl was born with the condition she has.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Besides drowning his sadness, the man also drank a lot to ease his phantom pain.
- Epiphany Therapy: After Laurencin kills the red-headed Laurant (or slightly before, when he sees the red-headed Laurant, in the manga), he recognizes that his life isn't over yet and finally decides to try to clean himself up and move on.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: His lover in the manga used to nurse him after he collapsed following his defeat in battle. When he's discharged she decided to follow him along.
- Hero-Worshipper: Léon worshiped General Alvarez in his younger days. The aftermath of his failed confrontation with Flambeau makes him ponder deeper about Alvarez as a person with mistakes and flaws like him.
- Mirror Character: He was about to kill the Red-Haired Laurant when he swung the tavern door open, saw the man, and realized that he is an exact mirror image of himself: miserably drunk, also missing an arm, and now missing one eye. (In the manga, he also had a prostitute beside him who he abused, which reminds the Gold-Haired Laurant even more of himself as it brought him back the memories of his ex.) To top it off, Laurencin suddenly barges into the room and mercilessly killed the Red-Haired Laurant on the spot. This pitiful sight of his former nemesis brought him back to his senses, triggering his Epiphany Therapy.
- A Tankard of Moose Urine: In the manga, he complains that the alcohol he drinks is absolutely terrible before downing the glass. It's actually a plot point when at the end of the chapter he drinks wine and he notices that it actually tastes good. It's the first time he's actually drunk for the taste, as opposed to in order to get drunk.
- Took a Level in Kindness: If you're taking the theory of him being Etoile's father into account, then he had certainly cleaned up and learned to become a good father to her since "Miezaru Ude". This is definitely the case in the manga.
The Red-Haired Laurant
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto
A cross-shaped scar on his left cheek. Flaming red hair, crimson eyes.
"Kill that bastard", so his arm throbbed. His unseen arm throbbed.
The antagonist of "Miezaru Ude". He is the one who severed the Blond-Haired Laurant's arm, inadvertently plunging the latter into a life of misery and loneliness. Unbeknownst to him, however, the Red-Haired Laurant himself hasn't exactly been enjoying a life of glory and comfort.In the manga adaptation, he is named Flambeau, whereas in the novel, he is named Damien.
- The Alcoholic: After he loses his arm.
- Character Overlap: It is all but stated that he is also the man who ravaged Laurencin's village and abducted his friend.
- Curtains Match the Window: His eyes are as crimson as his hair.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: There must be a reason why his son is predicted to be the one who will bring Laurencin's Cycle of Revenge into full circle, meaning he will also murder the latter the same way he did his father.
- Evil Redhead: His flaming red hair and his apparent sadistic nature have been a source of nightmare for the Blond-Haired Laurant for quite some time.
- Karmic Death: Moreso in the manga, where he's guilty of a lot more. There is a reason Laurencin wanted to kill him— he's the one who "kidnapped" his childhood friend.
- Lima Syndrome: Develops this for Ciel in the manga, leading to—
- A Match Made in Stockholm: Flambeau and his kidnappee, Ciel, proceed to marry/become lovers at some point after the latter's abduction, the union of which produced one son, Tyce. Laurencin is understandably shocked when he came to know this.
- Mirror Character: He ended up being in almost the exact circumstances as the man whose arm he lopped off, sans just one eye.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Poor guy. On his first appearance he's just angrily grunting, and the second he tries to reveal more of his characterization he's unceremoniously killed by a stranger.
Laurencin
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi
Portrayed by: Revo (music video)
"Good evening. Farewell."
The man who ultimately kills the red-headed Laurant in Miezaru Ude. In the manga, he is taken to be the protagonist of "Hiiro no Fuusha" as well, which thus explains his motivation. Most details on him only appear in the manga.In the novel, Laurencin is his surname, and his full name is made out to be (something akin to) Jill Laurencin.
- Badass Long Robe: In the manga, when he's a grownup and kills the red-headed Laurant. Not that it takes that much badassery to kill someone drunk to the gills, but still. He did it in a badass fashion.
- Best Served Cold: His revenge against the red-headed Laurant.
- But Your Wings Are Beautiful: Ciel, the girl he tries to run away from the village with, likes the mark on the back of his neck, seeing it as like a pair of tiny wings.
- Cycle of Revenge: Spin and spin, o red windmill...
- Diabolus ex Machina: Without the theory of him being the same boy from "Hiiro no Fuusha" in mind, his suddenly barging into the tavern and murdering the Red-Haired Laurant falls into this territory.
- Distinguishing Mark: A red patch on the back of his neck that appears when blood runs to his head. He hides it for fear that the other kids will see it as a Mark of the Beast - and indeed they do search him for one at the beginning of the manga.
- Hates Being Touched: Has an inherent phobia of people's touch due to his father, Auguste Laurant, attempting to choke him to death as a baby.
- Heartwarming Orphan: He's surrounded by them when he's growing up and would be one himself if he would smile once in a while.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Hiver in "Norowareshi Houseki".
- Irony: He killed Flambeau to avenge Ciel, basically his only family after everyone in the village was murdered; in the process he ended up taking away her son's only remaining family, as well.
- Mirthless Laughter: After he kills the red-headed Laurant.
- Moment of Weakness: Running away from the red-headed Laurant and thus leaving Ciel to die.
- My Greatest Failure: Naturally, the feeling of guilt evolved to this.
- Orphanage of Love: He was raised in one until his village was attacked.
- Perpetual Frowner: As a child in the manga version of "Hiiro no Fuusha". In the alternate world created by Noël, not so much.
- Troubled, but Cute: Most prominently shown in the manga.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Between him and Ciel.
Étoile
...thank you, Pleut. Because you were by my side, I can go anywhere.
Played by: YUUKI
"Ah, I know not of the stars, for their faraway light is unreachable to me.
...I am sorry, mother—I absolutely cannot bring myself to like this name."
The protagonist of the song "Hoshikuzu no Kawahimo". Born with poor eyesight which would not even last to her adulthood, she was beset by sadness, but with the help of Pleut, her big black dog, she gradually tries to cope with her condition and overcome her fear.- Adaptation Dye-Job: She is black-haired in the manga, whereas from what little we can see of her in the official album artwork◊, she seems to be fair-haired. The novel adaptation retains the latter hair color.
- Coming of Age Story: "Hoshikuzu no Kawahimo" in the manga is adapted to be this.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: In the manga.
- Genki Girl: Manga!Étoile used to be this during childhood, until her eye problems become more prominent as she grew older.
- Meaningful Name: In story. Her mother named her "Étoile", meaning "star", so that her path would always sparkle like the stars. This became something of a bitter joke to her later, since due to her poor eyesight, she's never actually been able to see her namesake.
- Missing Mom: Her mother is implied to have died, and since Pleut has the same voice as her mom, it's become a common fan theory that her mom was reincarnated as Pleut.
Auguste Laurant
What I lack is not the power of design at my fingertips, it is the imagination to surpass reality.
Played by: Jimang
"Light! Ah...more light!
That is, expiation...the light...of atonement..."
The protagonist of the song "Tenshi no Chouzou". He is a talented and famous sculptor who falls into despair after his wife's death in childbirth.- Abusive Dad: His actions pretty much show that he is unable to be a good father to his baby. At least he had the incentive to send them away to an orphanage rather than attempt to raise them and make matters even worse than before.
- Age Lift: His design◊ in the novel makes him look far younger than any of his previous three incarnations. He doesn't look to be anywhere near his fifties.
- Bittersweet Ending: The live version veered more on the "bitter" side: he lost his wife, had deserted their child away, and never managed to complete his statue, but at least he died happy with the mere thought that his child has finally forgiven him and smiled at him.
- Character Overlap: Regarded by many to be Laurencin's father, especially after the manga came out.
- Dead Artists Are Better: Downplayed. Auguste is already critically acclaimed in life, but it is after his death that the world lauded him as "the one with the hand of God", and his angel sculpture came to be regarded as a rare masterpiece.
- Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: Novel!Auguste's wife is a mysterious woman called "M", who may very well be Michèle Malebranche. Everybody familiar enough with Sound Horizon is aware of just what that woman could be.
- Grumpy Old Man: His manga incarnation is an unkempt old artist who can't afford to be friendly to anybody save his wife.
- The Lost Lenore: His wife's death is such a huge blow for him that he finds it difficult to love their infant child, to whom he heaps the blame for her death upon.
- May–December Romance: In the manga, Auguste looks like this◊, and he married Nathalie, who looks like this◊.
- The Muse: The man seem to regard his wife as his sole motivation in life and art.
- My Greatest Failure: His wife's death.
- No Social Skills: Manga!Auguste can't seem to behave courteously to anyone who is not Nathalie.
- Reclusive Artist: In-Universe. He holes himself up in his studio, which cannot be entered by absolutely anyone but his wife. As time went by the silhouette of the studio itself became such an eyesore in others' eyes.
- Would Hurt a Child: Closely subverted in the manga. In a brief moment of grief-induced anger, he was about to strangle his baby, but thankfully his conscience overtook him.
- You Should Have Died Instead: In the manga, his initial reaction to his wife's Death by Childbirth was to come close to killing his child due to said child having taken her away.
Monica
I will sing for Loran's part, as well.
Played by: YUUKI
Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi
"This melody you love rang to the skies with my harmonica.
A canvas in the windowframe, embraced by angels...now, I wonder if such a scenery is beautiful to you?"
The protagonist of "Utsukushiki Mono". She sings the song in dedication of her brother, who had died some time before due to his incurable sickness.- Cool Big Sis: To Loran.
- Girlish Pigtails: Both in the manga and in the album illustrations, although it's difficult to see in the latter.
- Iconic Item: Her harmonica.
Loraine de Saint-Laurent
Played by: REMI
Ah, women are no tools for politics. Their lives are ones meant to be lived with their beloved.
"The interweaving harmony of both joy and sadness...that is the flavor of my wine, and so is life."
The protagonist of the song "Yorokobi to Kanashimi no Budoushu". A prolific winemaker, she was once a woman of a high-standing family who fell in love with the caretaker of her grandfather's vineyard. Unfortunately, she had been engaged without her consent to a higher nobleman as part of her father's last-bid attempt to save the family fortune; the tragic consequence of her attempt to escape with her lover led her to become the solitary woman she is now.- Abusive Parents: Her father is an authoritarian man who values his reputation above all else and her stepmother is a vain Gold Digger who can't afford to care properly for her.
- Arranged Marriage: Predictably, she opposes this, prompting her (first) attempt to run away.
- Celibate Hero: After running away from her family and possibly murdering her lover's assassin she considers herself to be unfit for love, and decides to dedicate herself to making wine for the rest of her life.
- Character Overlap: She and the unnamed bride in Elysion are implied to be the same person. This is also the interpretation the manga adaptation takes.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: Her biological mother in the manga, Anne. In contrast to her stepmother, she is a generous, down-to-earth woman.
- Evil Stepmother: Not so much evil as she is neglectful—Loraine's stepmother marries her father only for the riches and is never shown caring about anything other than that.
- Gorgeous Period Dress: Gets to wear a number of fancy mid-18th century dresses in the manga. This◊ is one of them.
- Impoverished Patrician: She was born into this sort of family, which is why her father insists that she marry a rich man rather than the poor vineyard-worker whom she truly loves.
- Meaningful Name: Lorraine is the name of a region in France famous for its vineries.
- Rebellious Princess: Loraine is a noblewoman who cannot stand being a mere political tool of her father. In the end she chose to run away from her family and cast aside all that remains of her former life to continue her lover's legacy as a simple winemaker.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: She already has a lover who is a humble vineyard caretaker, but then is forced to marry a nobleman of higher standing. She chose to run away with the former only to have him killed in front of her eyes. Then she decided to run away from her own wedding as well.
- Runaway Fiancée: Implied in the song, definitely the case in the manga.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: In the manga she is a feisty, strong-willed girl with fiery red hair and forest-green eyes.
- Significant Haircut: She cuts her hair short to disguise herself after murdering the Masked Man.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With the servant (named Neige in the manga).
Savant
- Played by: Jimang
One of the characters in the song "Tasogare no Kenja". Borders on Supporting Protagonist of the song.
- Good with Numbers: Put this guy together with The Count in a locked room, and we may or not have some serious mathematical breakthroughs, but certainly, everything down to the seconds they'd spent together in that room would be counted.
Seisen no Iberia
Layla
Played by: YUUKI
The chronicles of history race rapidly; choosing an era of pain and sorrow, I took those hands in mine...note
"Why is it that...ever since...humankind can never sever
Their malicious chain of repeating conflicts?
Who should a weakling such as I hate? Ah, somebody...tell me..."
The album's heroine. She was at first only a normal Spanish girl born from a Muslim father and a Christian mother until the Reconquista broke out in her homeland and the respective opposing forces of her parents' religions killed each of them. Refusing to remain in the dangerous warzone, she recklessly decided to escape her hometown, barefoot and with nothing but the clothes on her back. A patrolling soldier mistook her for an enemy and shot her with a flamed arrow, by which she ended up getting knocked down to a mysterious cave where a certain demon dwells...- Anachronism Stew: Her post-transformation clothes comes absolutely nowhere near 14th century fashion, though it's justified considering she's basically an (mostly) immortal demon now.
- Determinator: Her decision to escape her Doomed Hometown was clearly made in an instant—she only had herself and the clothes on her back. Thankfully, it came with a benefit of its own.
- Deal with the Devil: She made a contract with Shaytan to become immortal, at first only to save her own life, but as she spent more time with him she came to realize that she could use him and the newfound power he gave her to put an end to the Reconquista itself.
- Emergency Transformation: Formed a pact with Shaytan to transform herself into one of his kind in her dying breath. Unlike most examples, though, she is the one who chose to be transformed herself and did so without any hints of desperation whatsoever.
- Girlish Pigtails: Her post-transformation hair.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Though Revo made the ending intentionally ambiguous, some fans interpreted that her and Shaytan's way to end the war itself was to let the warring factions unite against them—whom both sides agreed to be malicious monsters who are really humanity's true adversaries.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Repeatedly refers to herself as "weak".
- Magic Kiss: This was how she and Shaytan formed their contract.
- Maligned Mixed Marriage: Her father was a Muslim. Her mother, a Christian. The family lived happily, but this was 14th century Spain, at the height of religious military campaigns. A happy ending is already out of the question.
- Plucky Girl: Has shades of these shown throughout the single. One of the most defining moments was certainly the rash way she escaped her hometown, and also her plan to put an end to the whole conflict.
- Sickeningly Sweethearts: Though her relationship with Shaytan is shown to be no more than strictly platonic in the original album, fans like to interpret them to be these—most likely because of they way their contract was sealed. Revo being, well,
Revo, he decided to run with this idea in the 3rd Territorial Expansion live tourExplanation. - Take a Third Option: In the end, she chose not to put an end to either sides of the conflict—she chose to end the war itself.
- Taken for Granite: In the official music video for "Ishidatami wo Akeki Akuma", Shaytan turned her briefly into a stone before she emerged as a full-fledged creature of his kind.
- Thanatos Gambit: Very heavily implied to be how she chose to end the war—the way Shaytan lured them, it seems that they're uniting both the Christians and the Muslims to annihilate them, the demons, whom both sides agreed to be their adversaries since the beginning of time.
- Tsundere: During a live break after singing "Shinryakusuru Mono sareru Mono", she acted like this towards Shaytan. Because he just couldn't be in time to eat the lunch she made him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: She and Shaytan disappeared without a trace in the ending. Master Tsadi lampshaded it. It's possible that the warring factions, upon their unification at Shaytan's lure, drove them into oblivion.
Shaytan
Played by: Revo
I have been deserted in time, amidst darkness that seemed too long, even forgetting my name—until I saw your light, until you called me forth.
"Should you find it in you the resolution to swallow the bitter poison known as 'cruel eternity',
Together shall we live."
A supposedly very ancient demon sealed by sages of a bygone era in a cave by way of a sacred aqua blue stone. The stone was then cast away somewhere unknown, leaving Shaytan to wallow inside complete darkness for ages, completely alive and conscious. He spent too long a time in the darkness to the point of almost forgetting his name, until a certain wounded girl stumbled upon his prison...- Boots of Toughness: In addition to being a Sealed Badass in a Can, his boots are very thick in heels indeed. Not to mention the Spikes of Doom they had on the front side.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He may or may not be The Devil himself, but he is a completely neutral character through and through. Layla is the one who ultimately makes the decisions, after all.
- Fiery Redhead: Averted. Shaytan's hair is in a burning shade of red, but he hardly ever shows any signs of a prominent emotion.
- The Giant: Shaytan's a tall guy. See him looming behind the cast in the cover art? That's not an illusion of perspective; that's just what he literally looks like.
- Horned Humanoid: In tune to how demons are usually portrayed in art.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Him and Layla. They're past◊ being One Head Taller.
- Large Ham: Not originally like this in the single; he's subtler in showing his emotions. It's just that Revo had too much fun playing as him in the 3rd Territorial Expansion concert. Exhibit A:Shaytan: "Still you slaughter your own brethren, even now? O, ye humankind!! It is I who is your true ENEMYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! *the screen shook and the audience went wild*
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He looks burlier in the above image, but still fits. In the live, though, Revo's youthful, J-Pop idol singer figure fits the trope's ideal image perfectly.
- Magic Kiss: How he sealed Layla's pact with him.
- Mirthless Laughter: When he realized that Layla had basically just called him a "demon".
- Our Demons Are Different: He doesn't seem to harbor any grudges for humanity, and acts only according to his contractor (a.k.a Layla)'s wishes. He does actively tempt Layla into forging the pact with him, but through no malicious means either: he simply reminded her that her hometown is falling apart, everybody she used to love is slowly dying one by one, then proceeded to question whether she would simply sit still watching the war massacre more innocents.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has eyes appropriately described by the narrator as "ruby-red". Its left side sports a slitted pupil while another is an ol' glowing red orb.
- Sealed Badass in a Can: Shaytan was locked up by sorcerers a long time ago. According to myths, he's supposed to be an evil demon, and his powers are indeed destructive, but he doesn't do anything truly evil in the album.
- Tears of Blood: Shed these in the music video of "Ishidatami wo Akeki Akuma", for reasons that could only be described as "it looked edgy".
- Thanatos Gambit: To fulfill Layla's wish of ending the despicable war itself, it was suggested in "Shinryakusuru Mono sareru Mono" that Shaytan lured the warring factions into uniting against him, which would most likely result in his and Layla's descent into oblivion since they are both demons, believed by both sides of the conflict to be the source of evil.
- Tsundere: During live breaks, he had this menacing, pragmatic demon persona towards the audience, but in Layla's presence, it's clear that he was trying so hard to hide the fact that he wants to be at home with her all day.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: He commanded the warring factions of the Reconquista into conciliation by reminding them of the larger threat: himself, already the enemy of humanity since they were first created by God. It helps that this is true to both Christian and Islamic beliefs, so it didn't take long for them to put aside their differences.
Master Tsadi and the Gitana sisters
Played by: Jimang (Master Tsadi), RIKKI (Saránda), REMI (Trin), KAORI (Enjá)
Let us sing a song of the horrors of war, left untainted by history.note
"Many years we have spent wandering endlessly westward.
And now, the Crusade of Iberia has come. Saránda, Trin, Enjá, do observe carefully the history of this conflict."
Four vagrants of Spanish Romani descent, they have been wandering aimlessly ever since they were driven away from their own homeland. Now that the Reconquista has broken out there, all they can do at present is to recite the conflict's history to you as each side destroys the very land they want to save.- As the Good Book Says...: They open the single with the classic tale of Adam, Eve, and their children from both The Book of Genesis and The Qur'an, giving the subtle hint that the Christians and the Muslims have essentially the same beliefs, but it is their inherent tendency towards strife as human beings that drove them to fight against each other, drawing a parallel to the story of Cain and Abel. note
- Blind Seer: Master Tsadi, despite his blindness, holds a great deal of knowledge surrounding not only the Reconquista, but also Shaytan's origins.
- The Drifter: Being members of the oft-persecuted Romani community, they appear to have no place they can call their own.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: The Gitana sisters' shoes are mismatched.
- Framing Device: It is from their eyes the tale of Seisen no Iberia is recounted.
- The Hecate Sisters: Judging from their age and what little we can see from their minimal characterization, Saránda is the Crone, Trin is the Mother, and Enjá is the Maiden.
- Greek Chorus: They narrate the single with commentaries from their own perspectives and at times provide interesting historical and mythical tidbits surrounding the Reconquista, as well.
- Lady in Red: Trin is the one dressed in bright red.
- Regal Ringlets: Despite not being a literal royalty, Saránda's Girlish Pigtails are these. Too bad they're replaced by a pair of braids in the concert.
- Tarot Motifs: Saránda is seen carrying a deck of tarot cards with her in an official artwork. This isn't the case in the concerts, perhaps because it will be inconvenient for RIKKI to carry a deck of cards and a microphone in each of her hand.
- Wizard Beard: Master Tsadi's, which fits hi as a wise, old Blind Seer.
Moira
Alexei Romanovich Zvolinsky
Played by: Jimang
Horosho! Horosho!translation
"Does Moira wish for a comedy, or a tragedy? Now, I desire to present Myth upon the stage of history once again..."
The album's Framing Device. A Russian miner's son-turned-billionaire, he has a grand dream of uncovering the historical truth behind his favorite epic, the Elefseya. Despite jeers and mockery from even the scholarly community, it doesn't look like he's going to give up his dreams anytime soon.- Adaptational Attractiveness: As of this writing, there seem to be no adaptation that depict him exactly like the plain, stout old man with funny nose on the picture above. He is far slimmer on the live, and his manga incarnation is this dapper gentleman◊.
- Adventurer Archaeologist: Subverted. Though it's clear that he is fueled by his own overly-idealized view of Ancient Greece, Zvolinsky's archaeological process doesn't seem to involve any other fantastical methods beside digging tirelessly day and night.
- The Anti-Nihilist: As fully aware of how shitty life can be as he is eager to make something out of it, thanks to the Elefseya's big influence on his life.
- Babies Ever After: Moira ends with the announcement that he and Eirene are having twins on the way.
- Big Fun: A man fat in both cash and belly who recounts even the darkest point of his past with comical glee.
- Cloudcuckoolander: So eccentric that he is looked down upon and scoffed at by many, but manages to find his success nonetheless.
- Expy: It won't take one long to figure out that he is essentially Heinrich Schliemann, who like him was also a wealthy new-money businessman with a passion for Ancient Greek archaeology, but Russian and arguably less unscrupulous, seeing as Zvolinsky is never shown employing dubious 19th-century archaeological methods like forgery or explosives to pursue his lifelong dream like his real-life counterpart did.
- Framing Device: We see the album's story through his eyes as he reads the Elefseya for the umpteenth time.
- Happily Married: With Eirene, in a notable subversion of Sound Horizon's tradition of Star-Crossed Lovers. However, the matter of whether their happiness will last all depends on how you interpret the implication that Thanatos is going to embark on his quest to dethrone his mother all over again.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Zvolinsky's backstory as claimed in "Jinsei wa Ireko Ningyou" is so over-the-top tragic that it's more played for Black Comedy than anything else.
- I Am X, Son of Y: He is Alexei, son of Roman Zvolinsky.
- Large Ham: This man SURE loves to SHOUT HAPPILYYYYYYY~~~!!!
- Kavorka Man: For an allegedly "ugly" old man, he sure has a lot of girls fawning over him in the live.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: Seems to have a lot of brothers and sisters, and his parents died without being able to fully support them; as a result, he's forced to leave them during his early adulthood to look for a job.
- Meaningful Echo: He turns the ill-fated Leontius' quote from "Shiseru Eiyuutachi no Tatakai -Heromachia-" into his own personal reminder to never give up striving for his lifelong dream no matter what life may throw at him.
- May–December Romance: From his appearance, he is most likely somewhere in his sixties, while Eirene doesn't look to be even nearing her forties. This actually corresponds to Schliemann's relationship with his second wife Sophia, as the former married the latter when they were 47 and 17, respectively. The manga went along with this interpretation as well since it makes their characterizations correspond to the historical aspects of Schliemann and Sophia Engastromenos more.
- Memento MacGuffin: His Russian-translated copy of the Elefseya is the only thing his mother left him.
- Near-Death Experience: Gets hit with this twice in the manga. The first one was during his youth when he collapsed due to overworkingnote , and the second one was when he nearly got buried in a landslide during one of his excavations. Both of these experiences show that he can also see the shadows of Thanatos' minions, like Elef.
- Poirot Speak: Peppers his speech with random, out-of-place Russian words.
- Self-Made Man: Like his real-life counterpart, he also worked his way up to incredible wealth—during the incredibly feudalistic times of Tsarist Russia, no less.
- Rags to Riches: Once the son of a poor miner, his father untimely died in a fatal work accident, forcing his mother to become a prostitute to keep him and his Massive Numbered Siblings fed. He then had no choice but to leave his siblings for a job as an apprentice to a shop. It is from there he worked his way up until he became the billionaire he is today.
- Son of a Whore: His mother became a prostitute after his father died to support her remaining children. She died of a fatal illness shortly after.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Taking his own words into account, he has a face so ugly that his co-workers bullied him relentlessly throughout his youth. Eirene, on the other hand, is a dark-haired beauty with delicate features.
Eirene
Played by: Yoshimi Iwasaki (original recording), Azumi Inoue (LIVE)
"Even so, you will not give up, my dear."
The supportive wife of Alexei Zvolinsky. She admires her husband's determination greatly.- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: The ever-loving minder of her husband's eccentricities. She also dabbles in the silliness herself, actually, from time to time.
- Deadpan Snarker: There are times where her speaking tone sounds rather deadpan and sarcastic in the original recording. The manga also has her say this:Eirene: If a shovel doesn't get through the thick skulls of those reporters and scholars, their skulls must be completely empty.
- Expy: Her Greek-sounding name and youthful appearance all but state that she is the Moira universe's counterpart of Sophia Engastromenos, the second wife of Heinrich Schliemann.
- Happily Married: To Zvolinsky, a true rarity in the Sound Horizon universe. It's all up to you, however, to determine whether their happiness will truly last, as the live performance of "Shinwa no Shuuen -Telos-" implies that Thanatos is going to embark on his failed quest all over again, this time with her unborn twins as his latest target.
- May–December Romance: She looks really young compared to her aging husband. This actually corresponds to Schliemann's relationship with his second wife Sophia, as the former married the latter when they were 47 and 17, respectively.
- Musicalis Interruptus: Gently interrupts her husband's little aria in "Jinsei wa Ireko Ningyou -Matryoshka-".
- Meaningful Name: A sweet, demure lady, her name means "Peace" in Greek.
- Pimped-Out Dress: An elegant dress with delicate frills and earthly colors, may not look much but opulent in its own way. Fit for a billionaire's wife.
- The Muse: It is clear that Eirene's supportive presence inspires and invigorates Zvolinsky as much as the Elefseya does. In the manga, he even adoringly calls her "The Seventh Goddess of Poetry".
- Proper Lady: Azumi Inoue's performance as Eirene in the live gave off shades of this. As is Yoshimi Iwasaki's in the original recording, though she sounds more reserved compared to Azumi's more cheerful and expressive portrayal.
Moira
A mysterious figure from the live tour whom many fans interpreted to be Moira herself. The actor shown sitting on the throne was never the same each day. Sometimes nobody was even sitting there at all.
- "Nevertheless, go forth and conquer, my children."
The goddess of fate. As narrated in "Shinwa -Mythos-", she was the first being that emerged from Chaos, then by her own immense power created 3 primordial gods (The Genesis) who in turn procreated with each other to conceive the lesser gods, who in this version of mythology are direct personifications of the vital elements of the world as we know it. By herself she proceeded to conceive Ouranos, the God of the Sky, and lastly the God of Death, a.k.a Thanatos—hence her moniker, "The Mother of All Life". Although she is a very important character, she never actually appears in the album. However, the album's bonus track "Kami no Hikari -Moira-" seems to have been sung from her perspective.
- Chekhov's Gunman: She had been mentioned as early as Seisen no Iberia by Enja in "Arasoi no Keifu".Enja: In happier times, none realize that the one who quietly turns the cogwheel is <The Sixth Goddess> [Fate];In unhappier times, they realized too late that the one who cast the world down into gnawing hell is, too, <The Sixth Goddess> [Fate].
- Expy: Appears to be an amalgamation of Zeus and Gaia. Her aspect as a Queen of the Gods, the absolute ruler over the natural order of both heaven and earth, is clearly derived from good ol'Zeus, specifically his aspect as Zeus Moiragetes, the ruler of Fate; meanwhile, her origin as the Chaos' oldest "child" as well as status a revered mother deity are derived from Gaia.
- The High Queen: She is the chief god, the Queen of the Gods, in Sound Horizon's counterpart of Ancient Greek mythology, ruling over humanity's inescapable fate.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: However, some of her subjects, in particular her youngest son, perceive her as a tyrannical goddess with no regard for humanity's suffering under the hands of the other gods, who throughout the album are shown to be as fickle and callous towards mortals as the Twelve Olympians were.
- Spell My Name With An S: In-Universe. According to Milos, she is known by two names, Moira and Mira.
- She Who Must Not Be Seen
- Truly Single Parent: It is interesting to note that she created her first three children—as in directly materializing them out of the nothingness of Chaos instead of conceiving them in her own womb. Her youngest two children, whom she indeed conceived, were nonetheless mothered without the intervention of any male deity.
- Virgin Power: Moira truly is the "Mother of All Life"; she sired the 3 primordial gods of the universe as well as the last 2 of the younger gods without any male intervention whatsoever and doesn't seem to have a consort in sight.
- You Can't Fight Fate: It's implied that every single thing happening in this album (or perhaps the Sound Horizon universe as a whole) is all according to her design , which would mean that Thanatos' whole rebellion is a "Shaggy Dog" Story from the very start.
Thanatos
Played by: Revo
Be they a king or a slave, a saint or a whore, all shall be loved equally.
"Moira ... if you continue to manipulate lives ... I will continue to save every living being by bringing death to them."
The god of Death, Moira's aforementioned youngest child. He hates Moira for bringing suffering to humans, so he plans to overthrow her. His first step is to lead as many humans to their deaths as possible. His second step involves also heaping an inconsiderable amount of suffering to his chosen hero, Elefseus, so that the latter will come to blame Moira for his suffering and eventually rebel against her.- All of the Other Reindeer: After "Meiou" was sung in the live concert, a body of text showed up in the screen, showing Thanatos' monologue. It stated that the other gods ostracized him due to his nature and duty, which prompts him to question his mother why he was born this way.
- Cool Mask: At rare instances he wears this◊ ornate (yet still creepy) mask. In the Moira live, the mask was used to disguise the double performing as him when he and Elef are supposed to be on stage together, since they are both voiced by Revo.
- The Cameo: In the live version of Nein, his face appeared on the stage screen during the last few seconds of "Ai to Iu Na no Toga".
- The Chooser of the One: The one who chose Elef as his champion in fighting against Moira. Since R.E.V.O. messed his whole plan up in Nein, he chose Scorpius of all people as a replacement, or so it was implied in the live.
- Dark Is Not Evil: He is dressed head-to-toe in blackish purple and the underworld he rules over is dark and gloomy, but he has no traditionally "evil" intentions whatsoever—a Well-Intentioned Extremist at the very worst.
- The Dreaded: The narrator of Thanatos' "I Am" Song "Meiou" stated (in English) that "the living are terrified by the real God of Death". The Japanese translation of this narration states something along the lines of him being "The very existence of Death feared by humankind".
- Expy: Sans his ambition to overthrow Heaven, he is clearly an amalgamation of Greek mythology's Thanatos, who is death itself, and Hades, the Lord of the Dead. He is basically what'd happen if Hades is ever rightfully fed up with how carelessly the Olympians treated the same mortals they are said to govern and protect.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Of course. They don't get much sunlight down there in Hades.
- He Who Fights Monsters: He hates Moira for manipulating people's lives and bringing suffering to them, but his plan to overthrow her involves him doing the exact same things to Elef.
- Giant Hands of Doom: In the live performance, to match Thanatos' impressive height, Revo had to wear these◊ while performing as him.
- Large and in Charge: He towers over all humans and is King of the whole Underworld.
- Rage Against the Heavens: The whole plot is kicked off by his wrath towards the rule of his mother, the Goddess of Fate, who resides in the heavens.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: He's...even taller than most examples, though. As in easily three times the average human height...
- Trademark Favorite Food: Fanon deems his favorite food to be mayonnaise after a hilarious Memetic Mutation following "Meiou"'s teaser.Explanation
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He may have been heaping a lot of shit upon Elef's life, but all he wanted to come out of it in the end was justice for the mortals whom Moira has undeservedly bestowed miserable lives upon.
Mu and Phi
Played by: REMI (Mu), Ayaka Naitou (original recording)/Mari Endou (LIVE) (Phi)
All of you, too, shall come to know that none is fair in this world, except him.
"[Thanatos] loves you as much as he loves us."
Two mysterious young girls who are most likely Thanatos' closest attendants, named after the 12th (Mu) and 21st (Phi) letters of the Greek alphabet. Mu is the ponytailed one, while Phi is the braided one.- Alphabetical Theme Naming: They are named after two of the letters from the Greek alphabet, Just like Thanatos' other (more skeletal) attendants.
- Creepy Doll: Never explicitly stated, but look very closely at the way they move in the live. At some moments it perfectly matches Thanatos' hand movements, making them akin to string puppets. This is actually the case when they're performing the encore of "Kowareta Marionette", as they fill in the role of the titular doll with Thanatos as their puppetmaster.
- Creepy Twins: Even creepier in that we know absolutely nothing about them.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Just like Thanatos. Hades, after all, is not exactly a place where the sun can shine through.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: They wear something resembling this even though they are mythical beings from Ancient Greece. Though they get a pass since they're exactly not of this world.
- Greek Chorus: To Thanatos, the same way the Harmonias are to Elef and Misia after "Jinsei wa Ireko Ningyou -Matryoshka-". These girls only appear in the first track, though.
- Satellite Character: All we know of them is that they're loyal to Thanatos and nothing more.
- Vocal Dissonance: They have the look of cute young girls but the voice of mature soprano singers. It's very eerie.
- White Mask of Doom: Made from the upper frontal part of the human skeleton.
The Harmonias / Six Sister Goddesses of Poetry
- Played by: MIKI (Ionia), REMI (Doria), Haruka Shimotsuki (Phrygia), Ayaka Naitou (original recording)/Mari Endou (LIVE) (Lydia), KAORI (Aeolia), YUUKI (Locria)
The Genesis had begun to be played, in an era where Mythos flourished.note
- "Who are the narrators? We are the narrators.Who are the singers? We are the singers."
Six goddesses of poetry who are daughters of Harmonia, Moira's eldest primordial daughter. They are the album's equivalent of the Nine Muses in Classical Mythology. They serve as the Greek Chorus to Elef and Misia's stories; when the twins are separated, the three older sisters (Ionia, Doria, Phrygia) narrate Misia's journey while the three younger ones (Lydia, Aeolia, Locria) narrate Elef's.
- Expy: Of the Muses, who are often invoked by classical writers to help them recite their tales. Unlike the Muses, however, each of the Harmonia sisters do not seem to govern a particular artistic sphere the way their real-world myth counterpart are distinguished from each other.
- Greek Chorus: To the whole album after "Jinsei wa Ireko Ningyou".
- Meaningful Name: Their names are derived from ancient Anatolian regions.
- Signature Headgear: Each of them wore a crown of flowers that differ by their respective color schemes.
- Statuesque Stunner: If you squint, you will realize that in the picture above Aeolia (the second one from the right) is the tallest of her sisters. Her singer, Kaori Oda, is the tallest female singer in Moira.
- Theme Naming: They are all named after musical modes, as do their colors represent said modes.
Elefseus ("Elef") / Amethystos
- Played by: Revo (adult), Yukana (child)
Life is something to be lost.
- "Despite all mortals being pitiful slaves of Fate,They enslave each other nonetheless; what a dry farce!"
The protagonist of the whole album. He used to lead a happy life with his twin sister, Misia, and his parents, Polydeuces and Elphina, until Scorpius suddenly barged into their home, killed them, and sold the kids into slavery. Ever since then, his life has been nothing but endless misery with very little moments of refuge. That's certainly one way to put it.
In Nein, he reappears with Misia on track 7, "Ai to Iu Nano Toga".
- Angsty Surviving Twin: Misia's death in "Shiseru Otome, Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu -Parthenos-" is pretty much his last straw in bearing with all the trials and tribulations Moira gave him.
- Alternate Continuity: Instead of the liberator of slaves, invulnerable warrior, and vessel for the God of Death he was in Moira, in Nein he is this goofy young man who couldn't be bothered to care less about the slaves whose fate he shared once. Granted, he's implied to have become a pirate mate, but with Misia alive, his purpose has been completed; what more should he do besides taking care of her?
- Animal Motifs: The wolf, symbolizing his loneliness, and the bird, symbolizing his desire for freedom.
- Arcadia: He and Misia used to literally live here, specifically its idyllic, mountainous region.
- Badass Cape: That cape he wore—the chlamys—whether worn as Elefseus or Amethystos, never fails to make him look so cool.
- The Chosen One: It sure as Hades ain't a good thing for him.
- Cosmic Plaything: And it happens for a reason. His misery is part of Thanatos' plans to sabotage his mother's reign.
- Death Wail: When he finds Misia's body, as raindrops, soft thunder growls, and a sombre violin piece play in the background. It's as heartbreaking as you thought it'd be.
- Demoted to Extra: In Nein, he's relegated to the position of deuteragonist as Misia gets the spotlight.
- Distant Duet: With Misia, first in "Shiseru Monotachi no Monogatari -Istoria-" and then in "Shiseru Otome, Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu -Parthenos-". The latter is a rather heartbreaking example since despite them technically being beside each other, Misia has already become a ghost and, in the live concert, Elef is unable to see her.
- The Dreaded: As Amethystos, he becomes this for Hellenes, as famed heroes easily fall left and right on his sword.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Without context, you'd think that Long-Haired Pretty Boy above is a really pretty girl.
- Expy: His character seems to have been derived from several notable figures both in Classical Mythology and classical history:
- He and Misia are twins with a Divine Parentage, but Misia dies during the course of the story, while he is elevated to an almost godlike status by a divine figure a.k.a Thanatos, and they are symbolized by the constellation Gemini, which should remind you of the Dioscouri a.k.a Castor and Pollux.
- He is a half-divine, invulnerable, dreaded warrior with terrible powers granted by a divine figure, driven to a massive quest for vengeance after the death of his loved one, and the main protagonist of the whole epic/album. Elef is clearly a dead ringer for Achilles. The manga even opens with this◊.
- His rage at Misia's sacrifice at the hands of Scorpius is reminiscent of Clytemnestra's when her daughter Iphigenia is sacrificed to Artemis by her own husband, Agamemnon.
- And lastly, the fact that he, a former slave, liberated his former comrades and made them his army is clearly a homage to Spartacus, the famous gladiator from Thrace and leader of the infamous slave rebellion against the Roman Empire.
- Foil: He ultimately became this to Misia as he underwent a drastic Character Development upon her death. Unlike the latter, Elef finds it hard to just sit by and endure rounds of ridiculous hardships just because "it's fate"; that way, he felt like no more than a slave bound by the leash of his master, which is what he actually was during childhood.
- Hollywood Costuming: When designing his battle attire as Amethystos, yokoyan clearly took a lot of liberties from what is expected from a traditional Ancient Greek armor. No helmet to be seen, using dual swords instead of the standard shield and sword◊, not to mention wearing what seems to be a pair of pants on his legs◊. Even when seen from the viewpoint that he isn't siding with the Greeks, but the Barbaroinote , his armor is still far off◊ from their actual stuffs.
- Implacable Man: Amethystos, since he is backed by Death himself.
- Large Ham: He began throwing this onwards from "Shiseru Otome, Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu".
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair reaches shoulder-length, and his facial features differ very little from Misia's delicate ones. Just look at the above image.
- Knight Templar Big Brother: He's not a "big brother" per se as he and Misia are twins and Revo never specified which one is older, but he fits the trope all the same, as he would not hesitate to destroy all of Hellenes if it is to avenge Misia's death.
- Made a Slave: After his foster parents are killed, Scorpius' goons sold him and Misia into the slave market. He is then bought as a public slave, tasked with the hard labor of building Ilion's massive rampart.
- Meaningful Name: "Elef" is probably derived from the Greek word elefthería (ελευθερία), meaning "freedom", fitting both his Screw Destiny mentality and his role as the leader of a slave revolt.
- Meaningful Rename: When he invades Ilion as retribution for Misia's death, he changes his name to Amethystos.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: He is usually portrayed to behave like this around men who even merely asks about Misia during live tour intermezzos. This makes perfect sense as she is the priestess to a goddess who requires her women-only followers to remain a virgin.
- Nay-Theist: His attitude towards Moira—he in fact hates her for constantly bestowing upon him an immeasurable amount of suffering. What he fails to realize is that the one bringing him the most misfortune is actually Thanatos, as Elef's life is part of his gambit to overthrow his mother.
- Rage Against the Heavens: Misia's death prompted him on a bloody quest of revenge against all of Hellenes, and, later, the Mother of All Life herself.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Misia's death.
- Technicolor Eyes: He has these, which is bizarre considering his biological family has either green or brown eyes. Though in Elef's own case, it's fitting since he's Thanatos' chosen champion, and the latter's color scheme is purple—the color of Death in Japanese culture.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Raised in a very harsh environment as a child slave, young Elef already knew how to cuss vulgarly and stab a man in the back. However, said man undoubtedly deserved it since he tried to rape his twin sister.
- Villain Protagonist: His Character Development in "Doreitachi no Eiyuu -Elefseus-" pretty much cements him as this.
Artemisia ("Misia")
Played by: Minami Kuribayashi
Portrayed by: Tomoyo Kurosawa (child, live concert)
Do not grieve, for even the most fleeting light is a gift bestowed by Moira.
"In order to test us, the heavens showered us with nothing but trials.
At that...we mortals have no choice but to simply accept them without question..."
Elefseus' twin sister. She is shown to be a tomboy, cheerful girl during childhood, but subsequent traumatic events mellowed her out drastically. In contrast to Elef, however, she never cursed her fate for being the way it is, instead remaining as determined as ever.In Nein, she reappears with Elef on track 7, "Ai to Iu Nano Toga".
- Astrologer: She is imbued with the special power of predicting people's fates by reading the stars. This is how she came to foresee her death, as she saw the constellation of Virgo being turned upside-down.
- Attempted Rape: The depraved priest of Anemos the Wind God, Nestor, came very, very close to having his way with her until Elef (most likely) stabbed him in the back.
- Arcadia: She and Elef used to literally live here, specifically its idyllic, mountainous region.
- Ascended Extra: She isn't really an extra in Moira, being its deuteragonist and all, but she did took her brother's place in Nein as the principal protagonist.
- The Anti-Nihilist: As taught by Sophia, Misia came to dislike making a fuss about everything that has transpired in her life, as she believes that they are all gifts from Moira.
- Broken Bird: Downplayed. She is prevented from breaking too much by Sophia, who taught her that hardship is something to be both embraced and endured.
- Distant Duet: With Elef, first in "Shiseru Monotachi no Monogatari -Istoria-" and then in "Shiseru Otome, Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu -Parthenos-". The latter is a rather heartbreaking example since despite them technically being beside each other, Misia has already become a ghost and, in the live concert, Elef is unable to see her.
- Dull Surprise: In the original album's main concert, Minami Kuribayashi's performance as Misia was adorned by a very...bored gaze. Even when she was about to be stabbed to death. Misia may be demure and quiet, but not to that extent. Observe the Moira live footages of "Hoshi Megami no Miko" and "Shiseru Otome, Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu." Thankfully, Minami gets more and more better by each appearances until this ultimately got subverted in Nein's concert.
- Expy: Like her brother and most characters from the album, she is an amalgamation of several notable figures from Classical history and mythology:
- She and Elef are twins with a Divine Parentage, but she dies during the course of the story, while her brother is elevated to an almost godlike status by a divine figure a.k.a. Thanatos, and they are symbolized by the constellation Gemini, which should remind you of the Dioscouri a.k.a Castor and Pollux.
- Her sacrifice, conducted to further a single man's power-hungry ambitions, is eerily reminiscent of Iphigenia's sacrifice by her own father, Agamemnon, so that he can advance his ship to attack Troy.
- She is the protagonist's most treasured person, his closest relative; her death drives him into murderous, unstoppable rage. Patroclus, anyone?
- She is an oracle forcibly abducted from a temple after foreseeing her own death, much like Cassandra from the myths (not to be confused with the Cassandra from this album).
- Foil: She ultimately became this for Elef as he underwent a drastic Character Development upon her death. Unlike Elef, she wholeheartedly believed until the end that no men can ever change whatever path Moira has destined for them; though instead of cursing its inevitability, they should brave whatever is coming their way as having a life, in itself, had been the most precious gift she can ever give.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Offered herself in place of her friend Phyllis as sacrifice for the Water God.
- Hollywood Costuming: That white tunic she wears underneath her purple robe? In the live concert, it's actually a two-piece top and skirt (which in itself is already bizarre in Ancient Greece) with puffed sleeves◊, lace, and buttons at the front◊.
- Made a Slave: After her foster parents are killed, Scorpius' goons sold her and Elef into the slave market. For Misia, this technically happened temporarily, as she is then bought as an apprentice to the hetairainote . Nonetheless, it is all but stated during several key moments that she is never comfortable with this, let alone having consented to it.
- Meaningful Name: She is fond of looking at the reflection of the moon on the surface of a body of water. Her namesake is derived from the goddess of the moon in the original Greek mythology.
- Nice Guy: Female version. You can't really say otherwise of her when she offers herself as a Human Sacrifice in place of her friend and mentor.
- Plucky Girl: From what little we can see of her child self in "Unmei no Futago", she seems to be the tomboyish, braver twin before her parents were killed and she was made a slave. After getting through all of those ordeals, only to end up getting shipwrecked, she turns quiet and demure. For the first half of "Ai to Iu Nano Toga" in Nein, she got her kicks back.
- Technicolor Eyes: She has purple eyes, which is bizarre considering her biological family has either green or brown eyes.
- White-Haired Pretty Girl: Her hair's got...bits of purple streaks...but she fits nonetheless.
Leontius
Played by: Takashi Utsunomiya
Now, who is it we must fight, and who is it we must protect?
"Fate may be cruel, but don't you fear Her,
For Moira will certainly never bestow Her smile upon those who do not fight!"
The first prince of Arcadia. He inherited the blood of the Thunder God, and as such is able to wield his mighty spear, which makes him a famed warrior throughout Hellenes. He is devoted to the gods and is an honorable warrior, as shown by his firm refusal to strike down the already-defeated Queen Alexandra in battle.- Animal Motifs: The lion, representing his valor.
- The Chosen One: The oracles prophesied that "The One who masters the thunder shall rule the world". Leontius being a direct descendant of the Thunder God and able to wield his spear, the world is naturally led to believe that this hero is him. But the thing is, he has two other siblings born from the same mother, taken away just after their birth to escape King Demetrius' death orders following a doomed prophecy. That first prophecy later came back in a subversion and bit him in the arse as he realized too late that his long-lost younger sibling—Elef—can also master the thunder, and he's just been pissed off big time.
- Divine Parentage: He is descended from the Thunder God. So are Elef and Misia, his biological siblings.
- Expy: Wait, wait. Is Leontius basically the noble-hearted prince of a land famous for its impenetrable walls who then dies impaled by a spear at the hands of the Villain Protagonist? Sounds like Hector, doesn't it? In Moira, thankfully, Leontius is unmarried, childless, and dies with the rest of his family (sans Elef, natch), including his mother, making the aftermath a tiny, tiny, tiny bit less shittier.
- Hero Antagonist: Much like the character he's derived from above.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Killed by his own spear which is thrown by Amethystos a.k.a Elef, who also shares the blood of the Thunder God and thus able to wield it.
- I Am X, Son of Y: Before engaging in his Duel to the Death with Amethystos, he is given the courtesy to introduce himself as Leontius, son of the hero-king Demetrius.
- I Did What I Had to Do: This is his sole motivation to participate in wars. He's clearly not pleased with his duty.
- Really Royalty Reveal: The Reveal that Elef is really his long-lost sibling hit him just a few seconds before he bites the dust. Ouch.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: As is what royals in Ancient Greece were expected to become. They were encouraged to participate in the glory of battle, since at the time it is seen to be more honorable to die at war than at home, though in Leontius' case this is more a daunting obligation than anything else. He would rather do something else other than shed blood, yet can see no other viable choices as the world is at an extreme period of civil unrest.
- Vocal Dissonance: He is voiced by a 51-year-old man.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Where the hell is he in Nein, anyway? Many fans speculated that R.E.V.O. altered the circumstances of Scorpius' schemes and makes it possible for the latter to defeat Leontius in battle, as he is shown to hold his spear during the duel sequence with Orion. Many fans had a field day hounding him for missing out on all the fun. One of them is this one.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl:"I, Leontius, do not possess a spear that pierces women."
Milos
Played by: Jimang
We shall sing of those destined to die.
"Stand up, o, friend of mine, and awaken to your own horizon!"
Elef's mentor, he is a blind poet whom young Elef used to accompany as the latter wandered across Greece in search of his estranged twin sister. He is the one who authored the Elefseya, the epic which serves as the Framing Device of the album.- Astrologer: Like Misia, it seems he also had the ability to read the stars.
- As You Know: His appearance in "Haruka Chiheisen no Kanata e -Horizontas-" revolves around him explaining the mythology and pantheon of Moira's universe to Elef.
- Blind Musician: He is a blind poet.
- The Mentor: The one who nurtured young Elef into adulthood. Unlike Sophia, Milos encouraged Elef to believe in his own convictions and indoctrinated into him none of his own philosophical perspectives.
- Expy: A poet whose greatest work is a book of epic poetry? Check. Blind? Check. Yup, there's no mistaking it—he is Revo's version of Homer sans The Odyssey and the ambiguous authorship.
- In an In-Universe example, he bears a great resemblance to Alexei Zvolinsky.
- Eyes Always Shut: In artworks. In the live, he has completely white eyes.
- Direct Line to the Author: The Elefseya is based on historical events, told from the perspective of the poet who used to be its protagonist's mentor.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: He left Elef for the region of Brontesium just as Elef was about to reach his early adulthood. He is then never heard of again, though the fact that the story within Elefseya continues to chronicle Elef's life past their separation would imply that he is still alive somewhere.
Sophia
Played by: Yoshimi Iwasaki (original recording), Azumi Inoue (LIVE)
Love is not a slave for use in bed, nor is it a tool to conceive a child.
"Please, become a [flower] <woman> blooming beautifully in this world, stronger than anyone, without fear, hesitation, envy, nor resentment."
Misia's mentor, she is the famous poetess of Lesbos and a priestess of the Star Goddess Astraea, hence her epitaph, "The Holy Woman" ("consecrated female" in the narration). Sophia is a wise woman who appreciates the world the way it is and prefers not to curse it for not being what it could be, as she believes that the thread of Moira is not spun by men.- Ambiguously Gay: She is an Expy of Sappho, after all, and lives in seclusion on an island surrounded by young women. Every time she sings about women, you can't help but feel all the hints strewn about:(In "Seinaru Shijin no Shima -Lesbos-") The girl's cheeks shone brilliantly in a rosy hue, how beautiful it isBut the young bud is drenched in sorrow, yet to be open(In "Shiseru Otome Sono Te ni wa Suigetsu -Parthenos-") The duration in which young maidens finally bloom in sweet fragrance is shortHowever, with glowing lips they sung of their crimson love; for them to scatter beautifully is, too, their life.
- The Anti-Nihilist: This is ultimately how she perceives the world, and then she passed this wisdom on to Misia, cementing her personality as a graceful, yet nonetheless brave girl.Sophia: You may cry about how difficult it is, how painful it is, how much you don't want it—but ultimately, the white thread is spun not by men.
- Celibate Heroine: By the time she met Misia, she doesn't seem to have the time to devote herself to romance anymore.
- Chekhov's Gun: Is mentioned in a passing by Cassandra a track earlier in "Shi to Nageki no Kaze no Miyako -Ilion-".
- Expy:
- As stated above, she is based on Sappho, the famous poetess also from Lesbos whose homoerotic poetry helped associate her name and the island's with the female sexual identity. Though in this album, her sexuality is never explicitly shown or stated, instead highlighting her intelligence, beauty and wisdom.
- In an in-universe example, she bears a strong resemblance to Eirene, the wife of Alexei Zvolinsky.
- As stated above, she is based on Sappho
- The Lost Lenore: She used to have someone who is very dear to her, but they have since passed away.
- Meaningful Name: Her name means "wisdom".
- The Mentor: The one who educated and nurtured Misia into adulthood.
- Proper Lady: Very graceful, beautiful, and a scholar+priestess+poetess to boot. No wonder Zvolinsky equates his wife to her.
- Red Baron: "The Holy Woman". In the manga, when praising his wife, Zvolinsky equates her to Sophia, whom he calls "The Seventh Goddess of Poetry", alluding to the six Harmonia sisters—just like how her Real Life counterpart Sappho is nicknamed "The Tenth Muse".
- Something about a Rose: Adorns her dress with roses, and is shown admiring roses in the regular edition cover art.
- Virgin in a White Dress: Not specifically virginal, but she wears white befitting her image as a pure, chaste and wise woman.
Scorpius
- Played by: Norio Wakamoto (speaking voice), Masashi Ōyama (live performance)
- "It is I who shall become King of the world."'
One of the biggest antagonists of the story, heavily implied to be the illegitimate child of King Demetrius. He resented Leontius' royal bloodline, even going as far as to call Queen Isadora a "whore". Bottling that hatred deep inside him, he embarked on an ambitious quest to conquer the world, leaving many dead in his wake.
- Affably Evil: At least he had the courtesy to give Polydeuces and Elphina a decent burial after butchering them in front of their foster kids.
- Ambition Is Evil: His ambition is to conquer all of Hellenes, maybe even the world, and his way of getting it is not nice.
- Bastard Bastard: Born of a concubine, envious, scheming, and positively sociopathic.
- Big Bad: The only character that comes closest to this trope, as you can see from everything he committed above.
- Blood Knight: His use in force stops at nothing if it gets what he wants.
- Evil Redhead: His hair is a solid, burning red, not to mention being shaped like a scorpion's tail.
- Evil Laugh: Being voiced by the great Norio Wakamoto, it shouldn't be a surprise that he pulled this off magnificently. Even more so in Nein, seeing as he had conquered Hellenes and its neighboring territories.
- Son of a Whore: He is the son of the king and one of his concubines, which is why he is not accepted as a legitimate heir.
Cassandra and Melissa
Played by: MIKI (Cassandra) and Haruka Shimotsuki (Melissa)
Do not take us for fools; what you have there is not love!
"Ah, though we were once pitiful slaves...
We are now fully blooming roses—the superior courtesans, Hetaira!"
Two hetairai who bought young Misia from the slave market and took her under their wings.- Cute Bruiser: Melissa is implied to be one, if her boasting to Misia that her fist spits fire is indeed anything to go by.
- Dark and Troubled Past: They used to be slaves. But it does not matter to them, because they're pretty and fabulous now!
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Are not fond of being pitied for being what they are, as they love it.
- High Class Call Girls: They are hetairai, which is Ancient Greece's version of this trope.
- Hypocrite: Belittles other prostitutes despite offering sexual services themselves. Justified, as uncomfortable as it may sounds, since besides being as different from 'regular' prostitutes (NOT courtesans) as night and day are, the Hetairai possess far higher statuses among women in Greek city-states note , even the noble ones. They are educated as high as a woman at that time could, and are allowed to partake in scholarly discussions and votings, to boot.
- Lady in Red: Cassandra. In the live concert at least. In official artworks, she wore Tyrian purple.
- Meaningful Name: Fans of Classical Mythology know, or will know sooner or later, that Cassandra was that priestess who was cursed by Apollo for refusing to have sex with him. Melissa, meanwhile, was a nymph who fed baby Zeus honey after Rhea hid him away from Kronos in the island of Crete.
- True Blue Femininity: Melissa is dressed in a bright blue tunic.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: They only appear during the opening sequence of "Shi to Nageki no Kaze no Miyako - Ilion-" and was mentioned by absolutely nobody afterwards, not even Misia.
Alexandra
Played by: Houko Kuwashima
"You please me, Leontius. You will become mine someday...don't ever forget that!"
The queen of Amazon. She seems to harbor an admiration for Leontius after he spared her in the battle between the Kingdom of Arcadia and her tribe.- Action Girl: Only in one track. And even in that she appears only to get herself defeated by Leontius. See Faux Action Girl below.
- All Amazons Want Hercules: She falls for Leontius after he defeats her in combat, but refuses to kill her.
- Barbarian Hero: Female version. She is, after all, Queen of the Amazons.
- Chainmail Bikini: Complete with a nonsensical bikini-styled leather armor! This is done likely to reflect her 'barbarian queen' image.
- Cool Crown: She wears her laurel crown even in battle.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Her death comes completely out of the blue.
- Expy: Possibly of Amazon princess Penthesilea, as both participated in the Trojan War (Alexandra in its Expy) yet was subsequently killed by the respective war's greatest heroes. In Penthesilea's case, it was Achilles, and in Alexandra's case, it was Amethystos.
- Faux Action Girl: She is purportedly the warrior-queen of the Amazons, but all of her appearances (which, if combined, amounts to less than 30 seconds) showcase her only getting defeated—and later killed—by the male characters.
- How Dare You Die on Me!: Her words to Leontius, as she herself marched in a rage to her own death at Amethystos' hands.
- Meaningful Name: "Alexandra" is the feminine form of "Alexander", which bears the meaning "defender of men."
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Her introduction amounts to exactly 15 seconds, and she kicks the bucket the second time we see her.
Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido and Märchen
Märchen von Friedhof
Played by: Revo
"At that shining era in which you are presently smiling,
Without a grudge for anyone, without a grudge for dying, we will certainly reunite."
The story's Villain Protagonist. A sadistic ghost haunting a mysterious well, he takes delight in bestowing horrible punishments to people, regardless whether they really deserve it and whether the revenge is aimed at the right person. After all, he's simply avenging his "clients", who are similarly called forth by the Well to the boundary of life and death.- Amnesiac Lover: He only remembers the feeling that he loved someone and that he also was loved by someone, but the "seven dead princesses" ( with the exception of Elisabeth) tell him that this was only his imagination.
- Anachronism Stew: His attire evokes the image of early 19th-century Regency era fashion...but the story is set during the Protestant Reformation, which happened in the mid-16th century. Considering his nature, it's insignificant, though.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: In his original identity as März von Ludowing, he was a kind-hearted idealist who didn't even understand the concept of evil. Now, he's a vengeance-obsessed, cynical sadist.
- Catchphrase:
- "Why did you come across this boundary? Come, sing of it to me."
- "I see. That is how you came to be _____ed."
- And the most famous one of all: "Come, shall we begin our revenge play?/it is the beginning of our revenge play!"
- Chained by Fashion: Both of his arms are bound with severed chains. In his Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido attire this extends to his legs.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: You may not see it, but he is smiling like this in the left part of the image above if you look very closely.
- Contemplate Our Navels: In the live, he simply stood speechless as Elisabeth reminded him of their childhood days.
- The Comically Serious: Yes, he is a creepy ghost. Yes, his hobby is making people die the goriest deaths imaginable. And, yes, he very much thinks Humans Are Bastards. That doesn't mean he's exempt from having fun with hand puppets!◊
- Dark Is Not Evil: He's a vengeful ghost, sure, but once he's reunited with his memory, we get to see what he actually is: a naive young boy.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Well, he's a ghost.
- Faux Affably Evil: He is very courteous and gentlemanly to the Seven Dead Princesses, his clients. He even gave the Well Girl some time to have fun first before contemplating her vengeance against her stepfamily! If you are his target, though...well, pray you will at least die quickly.
- Ghost Amnesia: Not even a trace of memory was left in him when he first woke up. Makes sense, since he's basically two people in one body.
- Heel–Face Turn: After he regains his memories.
- Hell Is That Noise: His speech is filtered with unsettling static.
- Like Father, Like Son: If you go with the interpretation that Bluebeard fathered März, they both lash and vow to take vengence upon the world after the death of their loved one
- Love Redeems: His reunion with Elisabeth completely reverts him back into his innocent März persona.
- Meaningful Echo: During the last few seconds of "Gyoukou no Uta", a repented Märchen, already gaining his memories back, repeated a certain young boy's phrase:Märchen: Mommy, the light is warm, isn't it.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red and black are the colors of a twilight sky, which is the domain of the Well, so it comes off as no surprise that this would be Märchen and Elise's color scheme.
- Sophisticated as Hell: He speaks in a very polite Japanese dialect, but that doesn't stop him from cursing people under one breath.Märchen: Come now, these idiots are about to ruin everything. If your pure heart is ready, my fair princess?
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: It makes any artwork that clearly shows his face look very unsettling, as the gold color fades into the white of his sclera.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Oh, yes. He is Hiver Laurant's contender as Sound Horizon's hottest male character, pale ashen gray skin and sunken eyes be damned.
- Undeathly Pallor: Just look above. In the live, Revo's skin was literally colored as white as paper. Behold.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He is actually März von Ludowing, after all, who doesn't even understand the very concept of malice.
- Villain Protagonist: Until he regains his memories.
Elise
- Played by: Saki Fujita (speaking voice), Miku Hatsune (singing voice)
I am a doll that sings of murderous intent, in the depths of this forest that leads to a well...
- "Let's continue our revenge together forever and ever!"
A walking, talking, child-sized doll who also happens to be Märchen von Friedhof's companion. She is as vengeful and sadistic as Märchen is, perhaps even more, and in fact is the one who urged him to begin his sick parade of revenge in the first place. She loves Märchen very much, and would snap should she sees any hint of him trying to leave her.
- Black Comedy: Some of the terrible things she says at the end of the Seven Dead Princesses' songs can come across as this.
- The Cameo: Appears during the last few seconds of Nein's 8th track "Wasure na Tsukiyo".
- Chained by Fashion: On her headdress and skirt.
- Child Hater: To her, they're nothing but scheming, shameless liars. This she said as a child-sized, squeaky-voiced little doll whose hobby is planning grisly deaths without any second thoughts.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Very much so to Märchen.
- Creepy Doll: Just see her image caption above. That's her quote from "Yoiyami no Uta".
- Cute and Psycho: She's a beautiful, adorable doll, isn't she? Even more so in the live, in which her "actress" is a Dollfie. She also hates you, and all humans in general.
- Deadpan Snarker: She's on the snarky and rude side; Märchen is on the deadpan, upfront one.
- Establishing Character Moment: In "Hikari to Yami no Douwa" from Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido, her first ever appearance, she comments in a cheerfully sarcastic tone that a deserted village looks exactly like a graveyard before proceeding to giggle.
- Evil Counterpart: To Elisabeth. Whereas the latter is a sweet, patient woman who wishes to put no grudge whatsoever on anybody, even her own brother who had her crucified, Elise is bitter, clingy and vengeful, hating humanity with little reason.
- Evil Laugh: This is her Verbal Tic and she does this for. Eight. Tracks. Straight.
- Evil Makeover: Her appearance is basically a sexier, darker version of Elisabeth's.
- Jerkass: There are only two things she cares about in the world: Märchen, and avenging people in the sickest way imaginable.
- Lady Macbeth: Why did Märchen immediately spring up into action, even though he had only just woken up a moment ago unable to remember anything? It's because Elise urged him to take up revenge on the people who had wronged them.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Red and black are the colors of a twilight sky, which is the domain of the Well, so it comes off as no surprise that this would be Märchen and Elise's color scheme.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The main reason as to why she is so murderous is because her lifeless doll body contains the vengeful soul of Therese, who cursed the world as she was burned to death. We get to hear them fusing together in the first few seconds of "Yoiyami no Uta".
- Signature Laugh: She has a very distinctive Evil Laugh.
- Villainous Breakdown: At the end of "Takkei no Seijo", when she realizes that Märchen is no longer willing to participate in her revenge plan.
März von Ludowing
Played by: Asuka Tanii (speaking voice), Junger März PROTOTYPE β (singing voice)note
Yes, it's a promise.
"Mommy, the light is warm, isn't it?"
One of the main characters of Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido, the son of Therese von Ludowing. Born with albinism, he suffered from blindness during his early childhood, but a certain "mysterious incident" cured him of it. Some time after this, he became a dear friend of Elisabeth von Wettin, only for it to be interrupted by her mother's announcement to leave the forest of Thüringen. But that's not what really separates the two children from each other...- Adorably Precocious Child: In the manga adaptation New Testament Märchen by Torikai Yasuyuki, he is very keen in helping his mother as a healer, concocting make-believe medicines and all.
- Anachronism Stew: His Rococo ponytail is somehow paired up with a late 16th-century doublet.
- Became Their Own Antithesis: Before his transformation, he's a kind-hearted idealist who has no wish to harm anyone and, indeed, doesn't even understand the concept of malice. After his transformation, he's a vengeance-obsessed, cynical sadist.
- Blue Blood: The Von Ludowing family used to rule Thuringia before the Von Wettin dynasty (Elisabeth's family) disposed of them in the War of the Thuringian Succession.
- Crossdressing Voices
- Cute Clumsy Guy: In New Testament Märchen, he is prone to tripping and making other people trip as a kid. Justified, as he was blind at the time.
- Eyes Always Shut: When he's still blind, he's drawn this way in New Testament Märchen.
- Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: At least, according to Märchen, the boy cannot distinguish between good and evil.Märchen: Ah, he was raised untouched by any of the world's crimes or society's malice...
- Heroic Bastard: As the son of the disowned Therese von Ludowing and possibly Count Bluebeard
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: In Aoki Hakushaku no Shiro it's implied that his mother was Bluebeard's lover, and could by extent make him his son.
- Painful Transformation: His transformation into Märchen von Friedhof comes with a very inharmonious screaming.
- Throwing Off the Disability: With little explanation, the blindness he used to have is cured all of a sudden. Therese only said it's caused by "a mysterious incident" and has no time to elaborate, since, well. She's about to be burned to death.
- The New Testament Märchen manga expands on this a little bit more: the ghost of Idolfried Ehrenberg saved him when he tripped and fell into the well. The villagers discovered him a while later and immediately called Therese, who hurried to save him. As März came to his senses, he also came to gain his vision, which is implied to originate from his interaction with the Well.
- Thrown Down a Well: This is literally how he died.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Deconstructed. März is a kid too good for his own good. He is raised without being taught what 'hatred' and 'evil' are, by default believing that everybody has a good heart like his mother, which results in him being unable to feel suspicion. That's why when two Obviously Evil crooks come asking him the location of his mother, he immediately complied without even bothering to ask what their businesses with her actually are.
Elisabeth von Wettin
- Played by: Joelle (adult), Saki Fujita (child, speaking voice), Miku Hatsune (child, singing voice)
Neither a noblewoman of the house of Wettin nor a daughter of the seventh elector of Saxony, I am Elisabeth—a woman of my own, who loves only you alone.note Click here to see her in Märchen.
One of the main characters of Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido and the protagonist of the song "Kono Semai Torikago no Naka de". She is März von Ludowing's childhood friend, a noble lady from the very powerful Von Wettin family. She also appears in Märchen as the last of the "seven dead princesses" and the protagonist of the song "Takkei no Seijo".
In Nein, she reappears in track 8, "Wasure na Tsukiyo".
- Animal Motifs: Birds, caged birds specifically.
- Arranged Marriage: Forced into it by her brother to the ruler of the region of Rhein-Pfalz.
- Caged Bird Metaphor: She is strongly associated with the image of a caged bird, representing the restrictive circumstances she lives in and her longing for freedom.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She is crucified.
- Determinator: She chooses death over being tied in a loveless marriage. Averted in Nein.
- Expy: She is an expy of German Saints Wilgefortis and Elizabeth. While her fairytale in Märchen indeed is meant to be a retelling of the former's story, it would seem that many of her characterization aspects came from the latter, such as their origins both being from Thuringia, their noble blood, their respective refusals to accept a substitute for their past loves, and of course, their respective canonizations as a saint.
- Feather Motif: She is, after all, a caged, wounded bird.
- Gilded Cage: She was kept inside her home for most of her childhood life due to her sickly disposition. Hell, she's not even aware that she had been so isolated until she met März. Inverted in New Testament Märchen—her whole residence is located in a sparse dwelling underground.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Her hair is a beautiful shade of pale blonde, and she is shown to be very patient and courteous.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She is a very nice girl through and through. Even after being put into a truly savage death punishment for refusing a marriage offer, by her own brother no less, she still refuses Märchen's offer for revenge.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Her family is hella powerful, being a major power player in the Holy Roman Empire for hundreds of years, but she doesn't even know what a 'friend' is.
- Made of Iron: She is basically treated like a chew toy by all the powerful men around her—insulted, belittled, forced into political matchmaking, crucified when refused, stripped of her titles and exiled when the marriage fails, so on and so forth—but she never seemed to show any signs of breaking down. Being a woman in Renaissance Germany is hard already, let alone a noble one; but Elisabeth seems to be able to swallow the fact whole, which rings true to her Catchphrase.
- Meaningful Appearance: In tune with her pure, saintly personality.
- Only Mostly Dead: The impetus for her mother taking her to Therese was that she all of a sudden took ill to such a degree that almost everyone except her mother thought she was dead. To note the extent to which everyone thought she was dead, in the live performance, one of the servants is shown literally digging her grave. As it turned out, of course, her mother was right.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Her pure white lace dress has been generally agreed upon to be one of Sound Horizon's most beautiful dresses.
- Sibling Rivalry: It is all but clear that her relationship with her brother isn't exactly the warmest one.
- Token Good Teammate: She could be considered this for the "seven dead princesses".
- Turn the Other Cheek:
- The only one of the "seven dead princesses" who refuses to take revenge.
- She repeats this behavior in Nein; instead of being mad at the spoiled, foul-mouthed noblewoman who constantly insults her and the physically disabled children she takes care of in the abbey, she chooses to ignore her to provide the children the care and love they need.
- Was It Really Worth It?: In "Takkei no Seijo", Märchen asked whether the man she truly loves would be happy to know that she chose a slow, painful death over a life of security and ease with the man who was supposed to be her husband, only to keep their childhood promise to meet together. Of course he would be—the man she dies keeping her promise for is Märchen himself.
Therese von Ludowing
Played by: MIKI
Mär, even if you fall into Hell, ah, I will still love you.
"I am sorry, I am sorry,
The one who bore you is I, I, who is so sinful..."
One of the main characters of Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido and the protagonist of the song "Kanojo ga Majo ni Natta Riyū". She is März von Ludowing's mother, implied to be an exiled noblewoman. Bearing an unknown "sin" thereafter, she lives with her son as a famed wisewoman, moving from one forest to another.- Action Girl: Wastes no time brandishing a sword after witnessing her son being thrown down a well. And man, is she pissed.Therese: "Even if Therese von Ludowing falls, she is still a descendant of the Landgraves! Your unsightly head will not again reign over your body!"
- Arch-Enemy:
- She seems to harbor a great hatred towards a woman named Anneliese, who makes a cameo on the first few seconds of "Kanojo ga Majo ni Natta Riyuu". She is the mistress of a nobleman, and at the very beginning of the song is in the midst of desperately pleading him to acknowledge her child as the successor of his bloodline. The exact cause of her hatred towards this seemingly powerless, innocent woman remains a matter of debate among fans.
- The New Testament Märchen manga shows that the two women came to hate each other because Anneliese, envious of the nobleman's affection towards Therese, poisoned the latter out of anger when she was heavily pregnant, resulting in März being born with albinism and Therese being exiled. As you can hear in the original song, Anneliese's effort never paid off.
- The Atoner: The narrator of her song states that she is this, though we never knew what for.
- Blue Blood: The Von Ludowing family used to rule Thuringia before the Von Wettin dynasty (Elisabeth's family) disposed of them in the War of the Thuringian Succession. Therese seems to regard her bloodline with great pride.
- Cain and Abel: Some people have theorized that Anneliese was Therese's younger sister, making their relationship this.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Until she is accused of witchcraft and burned, at which point she decides that if everyone sees her as an evil witch, she will be an evil witch.
- Laughing Mad: When the flames are about to engulf her whole.Therese: In this case, I shall become a true witch that curses the world! (whispering quietly) Yes...I will...ah...ahaha! Ahhahaha!!! Ah—ahh—AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!
- The Lost Lenore: Implied to be this to Bluebeard.
- Mama Bear: Mess up with März and she will make you wish you'd never done that in the first place. The whole world learns this the hard way, as she cursed them with the fricking Black Death itself after two stupid quack doctors decided to throw März into a well just to spite her.
- The Medic: She is a wisewoman famous for her ability to quickly heal illnesses and wounds. She also dabbles in midwifery during winter.
- Mood Whiplash: When she is about to be burned at the stake, she reminisces about her son while a bittersweet piano tune plays in the background. Then the priest rallied the masses to put the torch on her, she snaps, and the piano solo is abruptly replaced by a symphonic rock riff. Not the first time for Sound Horizon.
- Parental Incest: A popular theory among fans is that this is the unknown sin she is atoning, the sin of engaging in a sexual relationship with her father. Evidences include März's condition, considering what inbreeding can do to your offspring, and her description as "a mother and a sister".
- Regal Ruff: The small-sized ones around her neck and wrists.
- Riches to Rags: As mentioned before the Von Ludowing family used to be a very powerful dynasty in Germany. But Therese lives a reclusive, nomadic life as a humble healer, her relatives nowhere to be seen.
- Nay-Theist: Due to an unknown "sin" she had committed in the past, she came to think that God will never accept her prayers and eventually decided to stop worshipping Him altogether.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The "crime" for which she was burned at the stake? Healing others.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: After she is burnt to death, the Well amalgamates her now-vengeful soul with März's gift doll, creating Elise.
- Silk Hiding Steel: She is a graceful, gentle mother and lady, but once you hurt März...
- Something about a Rose: She decorates her veil with a big blue rose.
The nun
Played by: Kanami Ayano
I believed that the end of one thing led to the beginning of another, for I do not understand that my fate is that of misfortune. Click here to see her "sacrificed".
"Crossing a river, making a left at a ghostly fir,
I saw my home looming over..."
The first of the "seven dead princesses", and the protagonist of the song "Kakei no Majo". Relying on nothing but her faint memories, she underwent a journey in search of her Missing Mom only for it to go down in a horrifying turn of events.- Friend to All Living Things: She can only get along with animals from the forest. After Märchen resurrected her folowing her death at the hands of the forest hag, she manipulated them on her quest to avenge her.
- Human Sacrifice: Her mother—or whoever it was she met at what she thinks to be her old home—wasn't exactly sane, and when they met the second time, somehow she wound up doing this to the nun.
- Magic Music: She controls birds with an ocarina.
- Manipulative Bastard: She relies heavily on manipulation for her revenge.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: After Märchen resurrected her, she became a type 1, filled with nothing but murderous grudge against the old woman who killed her. Whom she still assumed to be her real mother, even though she saw before her death that the two are as different as heaven and hell.
- Parental Abandonment: Her mother abandoned her at some point in childhood for unknown reasons. She grew up questioning herself over and over what would drive such a loving mother to do that, so following the destruction of her church, she sets out to search for her and the answer.
- No Name Given: Averted in the Old Testament Märchen manga adaptation, wherein she is given the name Gift.
- In New Testament Märchen, she was born with the name Adelheid, but then was renamed Ester by the nun who took her in.
- Nuns Are Spooky: Zigzagged. She was kind and charitable in life, not to mention her animal friends. After the forest hag kills her, however, she wants revenge. The way she enacts her revenge tragedy also paints her like a cross of vengeful ghost and Nature Spirit.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She mirrors the Crucified Saint a.k.a. Elisabeth in the album cover art, and were both wronged by their closest relative. (Perhaps, in the nun's case.) The nun ultimately becomes the Red to Elisabeth's Blue, since wherein the nun ended up being extremely enraged of her death and will stop at nothing to avenge herself and ease the heartbreak of being betrayed by the one she loves, Elisabeth decides to Turn the Other Cheek and move on to the next world, as she doesn't find it necessary to grudge the fate God has assigned her with, regardless of how miserable it ended up being.
- Saintly Church: The church took her to save her from starving to death after her mother abandoned her. Unfortunately, this was a Catholic church during the Protestant reformation, and it ended up being ravaged by angry mobs.
- Too Dumb to Live: So you're venturing into a dark, dangerous forest with nothing but a small bag filled with ocarina and a piece of stale bread, relying only on a childhood memory you can almost barely remember? In search of a mother whom you've never heard of in years? Sure, girl!
The old woman in the forest / "Witch"
Played by: MIKI
I converted, but it had already been too late.note
"Give me more! GIVE ME MORE, MORE OF THAT BREAD!!!"
The antagonist of the song "Kakei no Majo". Driven murderous by her great hunger, she represents the deadly sin of Gluttony. Found alone and miserable in what seems to be the Nun's birth home, the latter immediately assumes that she is her missing biological mother, but nobody knows for sure.- Ambiguous Situation: Nobody knows for sure until the song's end whether she is the same woman as the Nun's biological mother. It's all according to how you interpret it. For starters, both the Nun and the old woman cannot even recognize each other when they met.
- In Old Testament Märchen she is indeed the mother, she simply didn't understand how much time had passed. While dying she cries out that she wants to keep living so that she could reunite with her darling daughter.
- In New Testament Märchen, she is not the nun's mother. Instead, she is Hansel and Gretel's biological mother. However, she did know the nun's mother and see Adelheid as a baby.
- Composite Character: If you would take it so, she may perhaps be both the evil mother and the evil witch. Possibly a Shout-Out to a popular "Hänsel and Gretel" theory which states that their Wicked Stepmother is also the evil witch that tried to eat them.
- New Testament Märchen plays on that theory aswell. The Witch is Hänsel and Gretel's bioloical mother who was thrown out because she was sick and the father didn't want the sickness to spread to their children. She also killed The nun's money lender father and later killed the nun's mother and assumed her identity.
- Easily Forgiven: Noooooope. No matter how kind a woman she later made herself become, the Nun won't let her untimely death at the old woman's hands go down just like that, especially since the former still believed that she is her mother.
- He Knows Too Much: In New Testament Märchen, this is her motivation for killing the nun. She thinks that the nun will reveal that she took the moneylender's wife's (the nun's mother's) place after murdering her.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: She even points this out herself."My prayers aren't heard, and, unable to receive forgiveness, only sins increase in number ..."
- Heel–Face Turn: Just after the Nun was given a second chance as a ghost by Märchen to avenge her death, she redeemed herself and becomes a kind old woman eager to provide hungry children with as much food as possible. No, it still doesn't make the situation any better.
- Kill and Replace: In New Testament Märchen, she does this to the nun's biological mother.
- Murder by Cremation: She ended up being cooked to death in her own oven by two small kids.
- Obsessed with Food: She spent exactly one second greeting the Nun (with a fanatically religious zeal) before snatching away the bread the latter offered to her and eating it ravenously. She treats it like it's the most delicious thing ever. Her hunger was so bad, she's driven mad by it.
- Sinister Schnoz: Her gigantic nose at first gives us this vibe as she has just killed an innocent nun, but was ironically subverted on the moment of her impending death.
- Offing the Offspring: If you follow the theory that she is really the Nun's mother. Although to be fair, it's not entirely clear that she knew who the nun was.
- Reformed, but Rejected: She had already converted to Christianity, but is still persecuted. This was what ultimately drove her into the deep end.
- Villainous Glutton: ...to be fair, this is because she can't find food in years. Also, she (unsuccessfully) repented after having murdered the Nun.
The country girl / "Swing Girl"
Played by: REMI
"I was born in a hard village, and my stomach was always empty. It'd be mighty nice if there was a house made o' sweets..." Click here to see her hanged.
"I'm just tryin' my best to survive, but things never go my way.
In the end, what's up with life? I dun' get it..."
The second of the "seven dead princesses", and the protagonist of the song "Kuroki Okami no Yado". After being sold to a mysterious countryside landlady following a peasants' revolt that went horribly wrong in her village, she became the waitress of her inn...but then came the day where she discovered the secret behind her tasty, yet mysterious liver dish.- Adaptational Heroism: She is less abrasive towards others and more naive in Old Testament Märchen. Not to mention genuinely considering the Landlady as a friend instead of nothing but an annoying boss.
- Book Dumb: She's pretty simple in a way that she only concerns herself with her day-to-day survival and her knowledge of books limited to fairytale stories. It doesn't stop her from being a pretty potent Deadpan Snarker.Customer: Sorry for intruding.The Country Girl: [whispering] Leave if you feel like intruding.
- Cosmic Plaything: Already starved prior, her village destroyed by peasant rebellion gone wrong, sold to faraway city, employed by a verbally abusive landlady, murdered by hanging, and her liver cut and served as cuisine. Illustrated best in her lines above.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She is gutted alive by her own landlady and her liver is cooked as a dish for her customers.
- Disappeared Dad: Her father participated in what seemed to be the peasant revolt of Germany along with many other village men, but only a handful of them returned and that excluded him.
- The Dog Bites Back: She is constantly berated by the Landlady and ended up being gutted alive by none other than she. Her response upon being given a chance for revenge? Gut the landlady back, of course.
- Extreme Omnivore: Downplayed and Played for Laughs in New Testament Märchen, where there's a running gag with her trying to bite on inedible items, mostly driven by her food-deprived background.
- Flesh-Eating Zombie: This is what Märchen very possibly revived her as in order to extract her revenge against the Landlady. Old Testament Märchen seems to take upon this interpretation.
- Gender Flip: The original tale her song is based from is actually titled "The Man from the Gallows", and he was an actual hanged convict instead of an innocent tavern waitress.
- Girlish Pigtails: Her brown hair is held up and formed into a pair of braided pigtails by her black bandana.
- Meido: A waiter and it seems she's the one who cooks the food in the inn.
- The Mole: In New Testament Märchen, she is "sold" by her village to the landlady because they suspect her of having leaked information about the peasant militia's movements to the opposing forces. She then goes out of her way to protect the landlady out of concern for her when someone from her village comes seeking information.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: To the landlady: "Give me back my liver."
- No Name Given: Averted in the Old Testament Märchen manga, where she is given the name Randa. New Testament Märchen names her Martha.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She and the First wife mirror each other, with both their corpses being hung up after their deaths and with them being the last and first victims respectively. The Swing Girl is the Red Oni because is a lot more blunt and snarky and engages in her revenge herself in contrast to the First Wife's Blue Oni where she is more meek and her vengeance is more indirect, not to mention that one is a poor commoner while the other is of nobility. Their songs are both associated with colors related to their killers and a location.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Her relationship with the Landlady has this vibe, and it was definitely the case in the manga. At least until the Landlady grew desperate due to the thinning liver supply and gutted her, too.
The Landlady
Played by: Jimang
Am I down on my luck, or are the times just bad?note
"I don't want to be miserable again...don't want to starve again...I don't want to feel like that anymore...NOT ANYMORE!!!'"
The antagonist of the song "Kuroki Okami no Yado". She is an owner of a backwater countryside inn who took the country girl in her care after she lost her hometown and was sold to the city. Desperate to save her dying business, she decides to use a less...conventional ingredient for a certain special liver dish of hers to attract a potential guest; discovering its unexpectedly positive response, she continues her practice, the euphoria leading her to unwittingly commit the deadly sin of Greed.- Adaptational Attractiveness: She is arguably prettier◊ in Old Testament Märchen.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the original Grimm tale, she's an elderly lady who, desperate to feed some guests who happen on her inn, uses a liver from a hanged man. In Marchen, "she" is a Villainous Crossdresser (or something) who tries to make a fortune by using human livers from many corpses in her food and eventually murders her employee when she runs out of corpses.
- Ambiguous Gender: She is usually referred to as a woman and uses feminine speech patterns, but the narrator states her gender as "unknown". One interpretation is that she is simply so old and haggard that it is hard to tell she is a woman. In New Testament Märchen, this is because she's transgender.
- Connected All Along: In New Testament Märchen, a character who shows up early in Martha's village and is abused by most of the other villagers is shown near the end of the story to have become the Landlady.
- Crosscast Role: Possibly.
- Dirty Old Man: In practice, played closer to the Dirty Old Woman, although in the live s/he does grope one of the backup dancers.
- Dramatic Irony: In one of the manga, the Swing Girl's liver was the only one that the Landlady never actually took.
- Greed: The sin she represents. Desperate for cash, she won't hesitate to utilize the most depraved method possible if it means making her richer and richer.
- Historical In-Joke: She is enamored with "noble" Müntzer, "dandy" Hutten, and "passionate" Sickingen.
- Hollywood Atheist: In New Testament Märchen, her backstory in the village gives her some elements of this. She had many loves among Protestant performers, though, in the song.
- Human Resources: The implication is that she gets organs from the hanged corpses of criminals. "Swing Girl" was the first person she actually murdered for their organs.
- Large Ham: As expected from a character portrayed by none other than Jimang himself.
- Lonely Funeral: In New Testament Märchen, it is stated at the end that even though she had a lot of money saved, no one mourned her death.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In New Testament Märchen, this is her reaction upon realizing she killed Martha.
- The Scream: Upon meeting her gruesome end in the Country Girl's hands.
- Trans Tribulations: In New Testament Märchen, this becomes the landlady's background story. She was originally assigned male at birth, was ostracized from the village, and eventually took on the role of the landlady.
- Vague Age: The narrator stated that her age is "unknown", though she really looks like an old lady.
- Wicked Stepmother: Of a sort to Swing Girl in the original song.
Snow White
Played by: Tomoyo Kurosawa
Embracing in solitude, I danced with illusions as I become a maiden. Click here to see her in the glass coffin.
"Skin as white as pure snow, hair as black as ebony,
I was born exactly as was wished in winter..."
The third of the "seven dead princesses", and the protagonist of the song "Garasu no Hitsugi de Nemuru Himegimi". Everybody knows of her unfortunate circumstances: she lost her kind biological mother to death, and had to endure the abuse of, and eventually must free herself from, her Wicked Stepmother, who is very, very envious of her otherworldly beauty.- Adaptational Villainy: Her naivety is noticeably toned down in this song, while at the same time, her narcissism is upped an ante. The fact that Revo ommitted the part where she happily took care of the dwarves doesn't help. And that's not even going to her sadistically cackling as she saw her stepmother screaming in pain from the Cruel and Unusual Death she delivered. At no point in the original story did Snow White acknowledge her own beauty, yet the song had her say this herself:Snow White: "A pretty girl who always gets up in a swift second, I have awakened only to find seven happy dwarfs who talk with a very peculiar accent. Afterwards, I nearly died several times at my sly stepmother's schemes, but each time I'd always miraculously come back to life in the end!"
- Aw Look They Really Do Love Eachother: In New Testament Märchen, a version of this sort of happends. After killing the Queen, who is actaully her biological mother, she imagines a version herself as a child before her mother started going insane. This incarnation runs up crying to the queen's corpse and vows to never forgive her for killing her beloved mother.
- Cute and Psycho: In spite of her usual sweet demeanour, she takes sadistic pleasure in watching her stepmother's Cruel and Unusual Death.
- Evil Laugh: When she finally got her sweet revenge. Made even more unsettling in that she sounds very much like Elise.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: In an Ironic Echo, after waking up from her sleep, her previously attractive-described features (white skin like snow, black hair like ebony, lips red like blood) retold into Obviously Evil characteristics (ghostly white skin, hair black like oblivion, lips red like fire).
- Hime Cut: And she is a princess.
- Ironic Name: In the New Testament manga her actual name is Richilde, which is a fairy tale considered the oldest surviving verison of Snow White, where Richilde is the evil queen who tries to kill her step daughter and is punished for her actions by being forced to wear the red-hot shoes.
- Killer Rabbit: The prettiest maiden on the land, bouncy, cheerful, clearly Moe, and can subject you to the slowest death possible if you had wronged her in some way. She will laugh at your face as you scream in pain. The Evil Queen realized this too late.
- Missing Mom: Her biological mother died when she was a little girl, and she still misses her dearly.
- Missing Dad: ...her father, meanwhile, is nowhere to be found, true to the original tale.
- Parental Incest: Implied. Some fans reported that during the "Hitori dakishime kyouzou to odoru..." sequence, they heard Snow White singing the subsequent line as "Chichi ni okasare"translation on the other side of their headphones instead of the original, "Tsukihi wo kasane"translation, which would make it sound like this:Snow White: Embracing it thus, I danced with illusions, becoming a young woman with the violation of my father…
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She is the Snow White, after all, the Trope Codifier herself.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She mirrors the Sleeping Beauty in the album cover art, but despite their color schemes, they are an inversion of each other: though Snow White's color scheme is light-blue, she is the more cheerful, bouncy one, not to mention being inherently sadistic and arguably more arrogant and bossy than Sleeping Beauty.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: In the live, she gave the Huntsman who was ordered to kill her this as she plead for her life. Naturally, it went well.
- So Beautiful, It's a Curse: She is the most beautiful maiden in the land, which makes her so hated by her stepmother, she almost got killed.
- Token Evil Teammate: She is by far the most sadistic of the "seven dead princesses".
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: The magic mirror states that she is this, a response that naturally angered her vain stepmother.
The queen
Played by: MIKI
The temptation of the devil cannot be resisted; the seventh sin is as sweet as honey.
"Mirror, o, Mirror,
Who, in this world, is the fairest of them all?"
The antagonist of the song "Garasu no Hitsugi de Nemuru Himegimi", who is, as everybody would have known, Snow White's Wicked Stepmother. Madly jealous of her stepdaughter's beauty, she represents the deadly sin of Envy.- Alas, Poor Villain: For all her vanity and general jerkassery, it's hard not to feel at least a bit of pity for her when you get to the part where Snow White's cackling at her as her feet is slowly being burned by a pair of scalding iron shoes.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She's forced to dance in red-hot shoes until she dies.
- Fairest of Them All: This thirst for beauty is what defines her characterization, being Snow White's infamous evil queen of a mother.
- Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Her queenly garb has a deep purple color accented with violet.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: It seems that all she cares about is her beauty, which she would kill somebody (a.k.a. her own daughter) for.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: She laughs like this three times in all of her appearances except the last one, where she is reduced to a screaming mess.
- Offing the Offspring: She attempted to kill Snow White to usurp her place as the land's most beautiful woman. Too bad the huntsman she hired has a soft heart.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: According to an interview with Tomoyo Kurosawa in the Memorial Issue, she has this exact same physical attribute of Snow White's. This would imply that a cycle of maternal envy is awaiting Snow White should she ever come to bear a daughter of her own. This would also prove that she truly is Snow White's biological mother, which she was in the original Grimm tale.
- So Proud of You: In New Testament Märchen as she is dying from dancing with the hot iron shoes, she looks a Snow White and realizes her daughter has become exactly like her, willing to kill anyone more beautiful than her. Right before she dies she says that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree".
- Wicked Stepmother: She doesn't care the slightest bit about her step-daughter's well being. Some fans, however, theorized that she might be Snow White's biological mother after all, which makes her lean more towards the Evil Matriarch.
- The original tie-in manga confrimed the Queen was indeed Snow White's stepmother. According to the sequel manga, however, she is retconned to be Snow White's biological mother. Snow White took That Man Is Dead comments about her mother's growing insanity too literally, believing her mother is dead and the "new queen" is her stepmother.
The Blue Prince & The Red Prince
Played by: Yume Suzuki
Just where on earth is my ideal bride?
(Blue) "You, encased still within a glass, seemingly asleep yet dead, ah, is more beautiful than anyone else;
I have finally found you!"
(Red, as he is kissing Sleeping Beauty) "Thank you for the food."
Two princes "destined" respectively for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty by Märchen as an instrument for their revenge. They wander the land searching for the "perfect" woman to marry, yet even though they loved all that came across their path, none of them seems to hold to their exact ideals. Except, of course, the princesses themselves, whom they met purely by chance.- Crosscast Role: Since Yume Suzuki is a lesser-known singer, it really took some fans a lot of time to figure out the Princes are played by a woman when the album first came out.
- Double Entendre: The Red Prince sings something very interesting when he sees the thorns opening up a path for him.Red Prince: The thorny hedges slowly open their mouth;Could they be leading me towards my lovely one? note
- Dude, She's Like in a Coma: The Red Prince kissed the catatonic Sleeping Beauty without any second thoughts. With the way he said that quote above, coupled with Sleeping Beauty's weird groan, you'd be forgiven for thinking that he might be chomping on her face instead of kissing her.
- Facepalm: The Blue Prince was briefly shown doing this in the live as he witnessed his so-called "ideal" bride in all of her sadistic glory.The Blue Prince: [Snow White's cackle and her stepmother's screams in the background] Good grief!
- Fanfare: You know he's coming when you hear that majestic strings snippet. TETTERETETTERETE...
- Flat Character: Their identical personality deviates little from your standard Prince Charming mold. Well, when we take the Blue Prince's preference aside.
- I Love the Dead: The Blue Prince's "unusual preferences". No wonder he's visibly upset when he saw Snow White jumping out of her coffin (literally).
- Meaningful Echo: Before coming to her rescue, each of them repeated their respective princesses' signature lines, which may be an indication of how close they are to her path.
- No Name Given: Though Japanese fans named him "Tettere" after his triumphant Fanfare, as mentioned above, and it has since carried over to the rest of the world. The New Testament manga names them Alexandros and Paris respectively.
- Prince Charming: The ones for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. Though with their bizarre habits, some fans beg to differ.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Averted. Contrasting color schemes aside, both of them have exactly the same personality.
- Satellite Love Interest: They're here just to make the princesses wake up so they can get their respective revenge, then sweep them away. That's it.
The stepdaughter / "Well Girl"
Played by: Ceui
Am I dead? Is this the paradise? Am I imagining things? I do not understand—but no matter, for I will continue working my hardest, daddy! As I always do! Click here to see her drowned.
"Okay, I'll do my best!"
The fourth of the "seven dead princesses", and the protagonist of the song "Sei to Shi wo Wakatsu Kyoukai no Furuido". Once the daughter of a sailor, her father fell into a well and died in a very mysterious turn of events. Ever since then, she had to endure a mentally abusive domestic life as, practically, the indentured servant of her lazy, demanding, stepmother and stepsister.- All Just a Dream: In New Testament Marchen, this is the Well Girl's reaction to find that her entire village has died of the Black Death because of her trip. The story that she fantasizes about after is the ending of the story in the original song.
- Death by Falling Over: She dies the same way her father did: falling into a well. In her case, it's because she is gullible enough to obey her stepmother's stupid order.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: She holds her dead father in the highest regard.
- Disappeared Dad: Like many fairytale heroines, her father is conveniently dead by the time the story starts. To be fair, in her case, he isn't completely forgotten, and is in fact her main source of motivation throughout the plot. It's been a popular theory for a long time that her father is none other than Idolfried Ehrenberg.
- Evil Laugh: She sure is happy seeing her stepsister covered in pitch. Which may perhaps be the darkened flesh of plague victims.
- Genki Girl: She does hold a certain degree of contempt towards her stepmother and stepsister, but putting that aside, she's an jumping, smiling ball of energy, eager to work as hard as possible.
- Gold Makes Everything Shiny: As a reward for her extraordinary diligence, Mother Hulda rewarded her with a shower of gold that gilded her entire body. By the time she came back home, she is excluded from all housework, which is now haphazardly done by her stepmother and stepsister. This could be because she is now a ghost and the two is feeling immensely guilty for having let her die because of their stupid prank.
- Lack of Empathy: The song's live performance and say she's not this. The same cheerful rock the song is entirely made up of, with usual red lighting of the revenge tragedy and her stepsister's distressed screams going busy in background. Then she taunts and laughs at her stepsister some more...
- No Name Given: Which is why many fans call her "Idoko". A Punny Name that originates from her death at the bottom of the well and a theory where she is the daughter of Idolfried Ehrenberg. In Old Testament Marchen, they go with Seirene as her name, while New Testament Märchen named her Clarith.
- The Un-Favourite: There's no doubt that her foster family sees her as nothing more than a housemaid.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She has a phobia of wells after discovering her father died in one of them. Her stepmother forces her to dive into it anyway, just to retrieve a fricking spindle.
The Stepmother and Stepsister
Played by: MIKI (Stepmother), Chinatsu Ishii (Stepsister)
"Would you like to be kicked out/scolded, you trash?!"
The antagonists of the song "Sei to Shi wo Wakatsu Kyoukai no Furuido", they are the Well Girl's foster family. Unfortunately, while they do offer her shelter, it came with neither hospitality nor love, and they proceed to burden her with unreasonable amount of chores as they simply sit back and nag her for the smallest of mistakes. This makes them represent the sin of Sloth.- Big Sister Bully: The Stepsister is a little sister bully—she knows she can order her older stepsister around because she's the real daughter of the house's mistress here.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Sure, Idoko, these women have degraded you for many years, but absolutely nobody deserves being plagued by the Black Death!
- Even Evil Can Be Loved: In Old Testament Märchen Idolfried takes complete control of "Märchen" and shuts Elise down so that he can help his daughter. He sends her home to his wife and step-child and decides to end on the note that they had a change of heart and treated the girl kindly and became a happy family. However Elise wakes up and calls März back causing them to end the story with the step daughter covered in pitch. Despite their cold attitude, Idolfried truly loved them too and wanted nothing more for his family to be happy together.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: They really seem to be a loving pair of mother and daughter, their toxic attitudes toward the Well Girl aside.
- Evil Is Hammy: They are two of the album's more comical antagonists.
- Evil Stepmother: Guess who!
- Lazy Bum: All they do is laze around only to nag the Well Girl in the harshest ways possible when her work doesn't match up their impossible standards. When the girl drowned in the well thanks to their stupid, stupid order to retrieve a spindle, the responsibility of taking care of the house now falls to them and they do it really badly.
- Ojou Ringlets: The Stepsister's hair, tied into Girlish Pigtails with a pair of red ribbons, even though she is hardly a princess nor anywhere near a noble standing.
- Was Too Hard on Her: In New Testament Märchen the mother waits for her step-daughter to come home and become genuenly worried when she takes a long time and begins to panic when she can't find her.
Sleeping Beauty
Played by: Mikuni Shimokawa
Day and night cycle forth, regardless of our desire. Time advances swift as an arrow, carving growth rings into even the greatest of trees. Click here to see her in the bed of thorns.
"The reason why I sleep, embraced by wild roses, is ..."
The fifth of the "seven dead princesses", the protagonist of the song "Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi". Born following the prophecy of a magical talking frog, the princess' birth was an occassion so joyous for both of her parents that her overjoyed father held a great feast to celebrate. As everybody have heard before, however, the golden wares were short of one, angering a certain Vain Sorceress, and this incident went down in circumstances that would come to endanger her life when she reaches her fifteenth birthday.- Curiosity Killed the Cast: Downplayed. Sleeping Beauty's thirst to explore the castle lead to her pricking herself on the spindle and fall into a deep sleep. She is actually the only one out of the Seven "Dead" Princesses who doesn't at least die for a while before being offered up a chance for revenge.
- Dangerous 16th Birthday: Dangerous fifteenth birthday in this case. Alte-Rose cursed her to prick herself with a spindle and die when she reaches the age. Though Aprikose countered the curse by making her sleep for a hundred years instead, it still doesn't make things any better.
- A Fate Worse Than Death: In New Testament Marchen, this is the way the clash of Alte Rose and Aprikose's conflicting spells winds up working out for Helene. Instead of simply being put to sleep, she winds up in an eternal nightmare where she is strangled by rose vines and then revived over and over again.
- Flower Motifs: Roses.
- Hypocrite: The indication that the cycle of Pride in "Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi" has come full circle is best illustrated in Sleeping Beauty's last line:Sleeping Beauty: [To Alte-Rose] To dare put a curse upon such a noble Queen as I,Would make you the truly prideful one!
- No Name Given: In Old Testament Marchen, like the original song, she is only ever referred to as the Rose Princess. In New Testament Marchen, she is given the name Helene.
- Parental Abandonment: She becomes one; Alte-Rose curses her when she was exiled. Though the specific of the curse is unknown, the way she abandons her child after it's born implies her child born with disability. Many, many fans speculate that this child would grow up to become Lafrenze from Elysion, due to Alte-Rose's name note and the fact that Lafrenze is said to have an extraordinary beauty, which considering Sleeping Beauty's Pride would make her envy and hate the child to no end.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Her beautiful pink gown◊ is made of what seems to be a soft velvet, adorned by billowy pastel fabrics and bordered with lovely small roses. If you look closely, the dress gives off the impression of a budding rose ready to bloom.
- Pride: Old Testament Marchen makes the point that she partakes of the sin of pride at least as much as Alte Rose does, and this actually is the reason that she abandons the baby who would become Lafrenze.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: Her color scheme is a cheerful pastel pink.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She mirrors Snow White in the cover art, but despite their color schemes, they are an Inverted Trope: despite her color scheme being a shade of red, the Sleeping Beauty is the calmer, much more elegant one, clearly less sadistic than her counterpart, as the only punishment she can muster for the sorceress that had cursed her into catatonia is an exile.
- She Who Fights Monsters: She's the most visible case of cyclical nature of "victim of the sin becomes the sinner"; her father doesn't invite Alte Rose and doesn't want to be blamed, Alte-Rose in return curses Sleeping Beauty and smugly gloats against Aprikose's attempt to reverse the curse, and after awakened, Sleeping Beauty flaunts her princess status as an excuse to banish Alte-Rose, who then curses Sleeping Beauty again out of damaged pride.
Alte-Rose
- Played by: MIKI
How utterly shameless of you!—
- "Purportedly you have invited all the powerful sorceresses scattered throughout this land—all of them, but me—O, you prideful king! Allow me to bestow a single curse upon this celebratory banquet!"
The antagonist of the song "Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi". A sorceress whose power is as great as her beauty, the wrath she unleashed upon not being invited to the great, pompous feast at the palace would make her represent the deadly sin of Pride.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: The original fairy tale's Evil Witch is a grumbling old coot. In Sound Horizon's adaptation she is a smoking hot blonde bombshell. And most probably knows about it.
- Arch-Enemy: Seems to have a particularly heated rivalry with Aprikose.
- Badass Cape: Wears a long, flowing bright red cloak that makes her appear all the more sinister.
- Break the Haughty: If you take it into consideration that she is the same woman as the Crimson Old Rose from Elysion, her defeat at "Bara no Tou de Nemuru Himegimi" must've hit her so hard so as to make her mellow out into a senile, frail old woman.
- Character Overlap: She and Crimson Old Rose in Elysion are implied to be the same person. Same goes for Sleeping Beauty's abandoned baby and Lafrenze.
- Deal with the Devil: In New Testament Marchen Helene's mother makes one with Alte Rose so that she can conceive a child; however, since Helene's mother broke off the deal by sending a servant to kill her, Alte Rose decides to take matters into her own hands.
- Dark Action Girl: She's powerful, and in her heart is revenge.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Alte Rose's original role in Old Testament Marchen was to watch over the boundary of Hades. This role made her not necessarily beloved by the kingdom, but she wasn't necessarily evil before the events of the story took place. This was the true reason that she never received an invitation to the party for the Rose Princess's birth, making her anger a little more understandable, though her response is still way overkill.
- Eye Scream: In New Testament one of her eyes was stabbed by a servant of Helene's mother, in an attempt to kill her since the Queen didn't want to keep her part of the deal.
- Expy: She must have borrowed some of those oozing sassiness and evilness from Maleficent.
- Hypocrite: She calls Sleeping Beauty's father "prideful" when she herself ruins the party just because she isn't invited.
- Karma Houdini: She is the only villain who Märchen and Elise do not bestow an excruciating punishment upon, seeing as she is simply banished from the kingdom.
- Last Villain Stand: Mere moments before she is forcibly hauled out of Sleeping Beauty's castle, she manages to cast one final curse upon the latter. It works, the result of which prompts Sleeping Beauty to abandon her newborn daughter in the wilderness.
- Little Black Dress: The black gown underneath her cloak is very form-hugging, accompanied by leather opera gloves.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Whenever she laughs, it must also come with dignity and flair. Except at the end, where it just sounds plain nutty.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: In contrast to Sleeping Beauty's pastel pink and white, Alte-Rose color scheme is a bold red and solid black.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Also, her eyes are of this color, too.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Her actions in Old Testament Marchen lean her more toward this than the Evil Is Petty impression that you get from the original song.
- Took a Level in Kindness: If she and Crimson Old Rose are really the same person, her adopting baby Lafrenze and raising her as her own daughter is a huge departure from the scheming sorceress she is in here, or at least it helps show her hidden soft side.
- Vain Sorceress: Her overreaction upon not being invited to the King's banquet all but show her as this.
Bluebeard's first wife
Played by: Minami Kuribayashi
Not only their bodies, women also want their hearts to be embraced. Click here to see her hanged with her successors.
"Ah, my husband has no love for me; I have tried to turn a blind eye from this,
But I cannot feign myself any longer, for I love him more than anyone else..."
The sixth of the "seven dead princesses", and the protagonist of the song "Aoki Hakushaku no Shiro". Having become a ghost, she was the very first woman Bluebeard married, and arguably also the one that started his psychopathic, misogynistic killing spree: the frustration that slowly crept up to her due to her husband's coldness prompted her to start an affair with another man, resulting in her gory death at Bluebeard's hands and triggering his mistrust towards his subsequent wives. Nonetheless, her love for him never came to cease, and it is with the intention of "saving" him that she took up Märchen's offer of avenging her death.- Artifact Title: The sequel manga retcons her to be Bluebeard's beloved stepmother instead of his wife. When his father had her burnt as a witch, he killed him, married the women who helped convict her, and killed them out of revenge.
- Composite Character: The sequel manga retcons her to be Bluebeard's beloved that was burnt as a witch who he was trying to avenge, with the twist of her being his stepmother rather than his wife. The original manga confirmed it was indeed Joan of Arc.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: She was whipped to death.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Her "black" hair used to be light brown, but blood may have taken the shade several times darker.
- Ghost Amnesia: Briefly. She spends the first few seconds of her song trying to recall who she was and how she ended up dying. Everything came back to her when she notices how her favorite white dress had become so red.
- Go Out with a Smile: In Old Testament Märchen, she dies smiling that her husband finally noticed her. This does not, however, mean that her grudge against him was settled, or she wouldn't be one of the seven dead princesses.
- Lady in Red: What she is now, red with her own blood.
- Love Martyr: Bluebeard never showed her any affection to the point of driving her to sexual frustation, molested her before proceeding to savagely whip her to death, yet she still gushes on about how much she loves him! Though she does acknowledge what a terrible person he can be and is determined to end his sick serial killings.
- According to the sequel manga, though, he was avenging her death...
The Wife: You are quite the sinner. Yet my beloved you are also. - No Name Given: Though in the fan community she is nicknamed "Aohigeko" (The Bluebeard Girl). In Old Testament Marchen, she's given the name Rose. In New Testament Marchen, she's given the name Nicole.
- Operation: Jealousy: Her affair is hinted to effectively be this in the song and live performance and stated to be this in Old Testament Märchen.
- Rustproof Blood: By the time Bluebeard at least had married his second wife, that dress should have turned dark brown or downright black due to the exposure to oxygen, but nope—it remains a fresh red all the way to the time of his death.
- Pimped-Out Dress: Even when bathed in blood, her dress still looks pretty and opulent as ever, in a minimalistic fashion.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: She wanders the world still because she wants to stop her husband's killing spree, in addition to reuniting with him. She can also manipulate humans, as evidenced by how her whisper can make Bluebeard's last wife open the door to the forbidden room without hesitation.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: She and the First wife mirror each other, with both their corpses being hung up after their deaths and with them being the last and first victims respectively. The Swing Girl is the Red Oni because is a lot more blunt and snarky and engages in her revenge herself in contrast to the First Wife's Blue Oni where she is more meek and her vengeance is more indirect, not to mention that one is a poor commoner while the other is of nobility. Their songs are both associated with colors related to their killers and a location.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: After realizing just how cold her husband is towards her, it was implied that she decided to have a fling with another man, having intercourse in what presumably will become the room in which Bluebeard hid the bodies of his wives. This theory is all but stated in the live concert.
- A Taste of the Lash: She was whipped to death. The whippings must be so severe as to be able to turn her entire white dress—from top to bottom—completely bloody red.
- Together in Death: She was shown embracing Bluebeard's dead body at the end of the live performance of her song, hinting at this.
Bluebeard
Played by: Akio Ōtsuka
!I WILL NEVER FORGIVE THOSE UNGRATEFUL PIGS THAT CONVICTED YOU AS A WITCH!
"Even if my opponent is God, as long as there's a hole, I'll pierce it with my spear!"
The antagonist of the song "Aoki Hakushaku no Shiro". An outwardly apathetic and cold man, he nonetheless holds a deep-seated possessiveness towards his wives, especially his first wife, and a deadly penchant for violence—due to this, he became a representation for the sin of Lust.- Adaptational Heroism: Is much more sympathetic in the tie-in comics.
- Beard of Evil: It's very thick and bushy.
- Blood from the Mouth: At the end of the revenge sequence he is heard puking a lot of blood as he crumpled to the ground.
- The Bluebeard: Well, obviously. He's the Trope Namer.
- Classy Cravat: Fit for a very rich gentleman. Um, not exactly a gentleman in all aspects, but you get the idea.
- Decomposite Character: In ''New Testament Marchen," his character is divided into Bluebeard (The character who is called that, loved the first wife, and in reality murdered and hung up all of the wives except the first) and Bluebeard's father (the accomplished war veteran whose wife had feelings for another man and who hung up the first wife's corpse).
- Despair Event Horizon: According to him, he reached this when he discovered his first wife's adultery.
- Died Laughing: He lets out a final Evil Laugh while he's being repeatedly stabbed.
- Domestic Abuse: In addition to killing his wives without remorse, he had also molested them, too, beforehand. what more can be said about a man like that?
- Evil Laugh: After he murdered six of his wives. He laughs still even as he is being repeatedly stabbed by three angry men.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Sounds like he's suffering permanently from a bad cold.
- Large Ham: He is the hammiest of Ido e Itaru Mori e Itaru Ido and Märchen's villains combined, with Elise and Elisabeth's brother ranking below him.
- Like Father, Like Son: If you go with the interpretation that he's März/Märchen's father. For clarification see below
- The Lost Lenore: Old Testament Märchen indicates that [[Joan of Arc is his. The room that his first wife wasn't allowed to unlock was his shrine to her.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: In one line in the song, he's implied to have been in love with Therese Von Ludowing, and could have possibly fathered her son März
- Meaningful Name: In the Old Testament Märchen manga, his first name is stated to be Gilles. This is most likely an allusion to Gilles de Rais, a 15th-century French nobleman and soldier who was also a serial killer and who is generally believed to have been the real-life basis for the "Bluebeard" tale.
- One True Love: His wife knew well that he only held love for one woman that wasn't her. It was possibly Therese Von Ludowing.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: "Bluebeard" is only a nickname that came from his funky-colored bushy beard. As with many, many characters, his real name is unknown. In Old Testament Märchen, his first name is given as Gilles.
- Pretty in Mink: He's nowhere near pretty, but his fancy red coat is indeed trimmed with equally fancy-looking furs, and its inside is shown to be made with ermine.
- Rasputinian Death: It took the brothers of his wife a really, really long time to out him. Just to make it even scarier, he laughs during this entirety of his own murder.
- Serial Killer: Of women that unfortunately came to be his wives.
- Schmuck Bait: There's no way he had given his last wife that one key unintentionally.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: His lack of interest in his first wife is rumored to be because he's this.
- Wham Line: One simple line exposes his true motive: "I won't forgive those ungrateful pigs who burnt you as a witch." Some fans interpret this mysterious woman to Theresa, implying that he is also März's father. The comic offer alternate explanations.
Bluebeard's last wife
- Played by: Miyuki Sawashiro
The last wife is on the right, with the first one (and Märchen) creeping up behind her on the left.
"HELP ME! My brothers, come quickly!!"
The last woman Bluebeard married before his death at her brothers' hands. She plays a crucial part in her predecessor(s)'s plan for revenge.- Damsel in Distress: She can only frantically scream for help when it's become imminent that she's going to become her husband's next victim.
- Foregone Conclusion: Worry not, folks: if you've read the original tale, you know that she's going to take all of Bluebeard's riches to marry the true man of her dreams and live Happily Ever After.
- Screaming Woman: Spends most of her screentime screaming and wailing. Given what she has to go through, it's excusable.
- True Blue Femininity: She wears an electric-blue silk dress.
Elisabeth's brother, the Prince-Elector
Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura
Portrayed by: Tadataka Kamiide
"Crucify this foolish girl!"
The elder brother of Elisabeth von Wettin, and presumably the current head of the House of Wettin by the time the album starts. Sentencing his innocent sister to the unreasonable punishment of crucifixion only because she refused a fellow nobleman's marriage offer, he represents the deadly sin of Wrath.He makes a brief cameo in the 8th track of Nein.
- Adaptational Attractiveness: Doesn't look all that hot in the live. In New Testament Märchen, though◊...
- Aloof Big Brother: He seems to have no brotherly love to offer towards Elisabeth, using her only for his own political gains.
- The Caligula: Shows some serious symptoms of being this.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Crucifixion? For refusing a marriage offer? What the hell, dude?
- Hypocrite: Despite him forcing Elisabeth to marry like there's no tomorrow, he himself doesn't seem to have taken a wife of his own yet, despite the immense political advantage it will also gain him.
- Karma Houdini: He got off scot-free since Elisabeth is too kind a woman to be able to give him the taste of his own medicine. Some fanfics like to give him the fate of dying miserably along with the dynasty, but this would prove unrealistic because in Real Life, the House of Wettin would remain in high power throughout Europe for the next 400 or so years.
- Promotion to Parent: This would be the most probable reason why he wants Elisabeth to call him "Father" so badly.
- Smug Snake: That position as the head of the house seems to have gone way over his head that it seems to have become difficult for him to treat even his biological sister with the slightest respect.
Halloween to Yoru no Monogatari
The Nameless Man/Seamus or William Livermore/The Halloween Night
- Played by: RevoPortrayed by: Takuya Koguchi (as William/Seamus in the live)
Diana, I want to see you once more! Click here to see him as Halloween Night.
- "In the End, my life was shit!"
The main character of the first song and the narrator for most of the album. A young Irishman with English roots who worked as a farmer after he inherited his grandfather's farm. He sailed to America in hopes of finding a better life, but was met with persecution and bad luck. Though he managed to get married and sire a child, he was murdered before the child was born, on the night of Halloween. He came back a spirit of Halloween and now haunts the holiday, but not out of malice, but rather out of a desire to enjoy it.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: The Hoshi no Kireina Yoru starts with The Halloween Night singing about a poor man who led a miserable life but by the end it becomes clear that the man is himself when he was alive.
- Cool Uncle: Implied to become this to Lenny after the boy dies, hauting Halloween together.
- Dark Is Not Evil: As The Halloween Night, he looks terrifying, but he is only out to have a good time.
- Happily Married: To Diana, given that she and her son have his surname.
- Hope Spot: After living a miserable life, he gets married to the beautiful Diana who becomes pregnant with his child, the news of her pregnancy is enough to pull him out of his suicidal depression... And then he's stabbed to death by another man who had hoped to marry Diana.
- Identity Amnesia: Possibly; he doesn't seem to recall what his name was when he lived, but it might just mean that he doesn't care anymore. After he dies he decides to simply call himself "The Halloween Night" for convenience's sake.
- No Name Given: Played with, he does have a name, but it isn't clarified what it is. The Halloween Night give the two possible "Seamus" and "William". With the discrimination the Irish faced, it's possible Seamus was his real name and that William was an alias he took when he moved to the states to distance himself from his original homeland.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: His life was just going from misfortune to misfortune, until he got a wife. But shortly after she announced her pregnancy he was stabbed by another man who was in love with her.
- That Man Is Dead: As The Halloween Night he ponders over the name he had when he was alive, not recalling if it was Seamus or William but decides that it doesn't matter anymore.
