The Saga of Tanya the Evil / Characters

These are the characters of The Saga of Tanya the Evil, note that spoilers for the light novel are marked and unmarked.

There's a lot of Adaptation Personality Change between the media versions, so the degree in which a trope applies may vary. The general tone of the whole work shifts gradually towards grimdarkness from the light novel (lighter) to the anime (darker).

open/close all folders

Main Characters

Tanya von Degurechaff

Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff

Voiced by (as Tanya): Aoi Yūki (Japanese), Monica Rial (English), Jocelyn Robles (Latin American Spanish)

Voiced by (pre-reincarnation): Kosuke Toriumi (Japanese), Josh Grelle (English), José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin American Spanish)

Ranks held: Warrant Officer -> Second Lieutenant -> First Lieutenant -> Captain -> Major -> Lieutenant Colonel

Profession: Aerial Mage/Wing Commander of the Imperial Army's 203rd Air Mage Battalion and Company Commander of the the 203rd Air Mage Battalion 1st company.

"We're soldiers. If the brass tells us to do something, we do it."

The main protagonist. Tanya is an 11-year old blonde, azure-eyed girl who is the reincarnation of a cold-hearted, ruthless, career-obsessed salaryman from modern Japan. Tanya has a high latent magical ability, and is the only one capable of using the Type-95 jewel due to Being X's interference. Tanya is quite ruthless and intolerant of failings in others—much the same as in her previous life, and employs several extreme punishments and training methods. She also introduces modern approaches to warfare and military training into the Imperial army and finds loopholes in the international wartime law for such things as city artillery bombardment in Arene and urban night raid in Dacia.

For her tropes, see her page.

Viktoriya Serebryakov

2nd Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna "Visha" Serebryakov

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese), Jeannie Tirado (English), Erika Langarica (Latin American Spanish)

Rank: Second Liutenant

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Aerial Mage/Second-in-command of the 203rd Air Mage Battalion 1st Company

"I too am a soldier of the Empire! It may sound presumptuous, but I believe I am capable of completing this mission!”

Viktoriya is a Second Lieutenant in the Imperial Army and serves under Tanya Degurechaff. Viktoriya is in actuality a refugee from the Rus Revolution, and her family was originally a member of the Rus aristocracy. She and her whole family were forced to flee to the Empire, and later she was conscripted into the army. Having served under Tanya in the Rhine Theater, Viktoriya is more familiar with Tanya's true personality, to which she shows fear, but also respect. As a result of knowing Tanya, Viktoriya is more able to keep up with Tanya's mindset as compared to other soldiers.

A-Cup Angst: In the light novel, she is jealous of her roommate Elya because, despite living on equal conditions and being basically of the same height, her friend has curves in all the right places.
Adaptational Attractiveness: For both the anime and the manga. The anime gives her more cutesy features like overly large eyes, while the manga has her more seductive with longer flowing hair.
Adaptational Curves: Downplayed. Viktoriya is notably more voluptuous in the anime compared to her manga and light novel versions, however her bulky flight uniform makes this difficult to notice.
Adaptation Dye-Job: She has blonde hair in the novels/manga but gets light brown Mikuru hair in the anime.
Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the anime, Visha is aware of the fact that her superior Tanya is not exactly a good person, as she is terrified of her, but she still admires and respects her as a commander. In the manga, she believes that Tanya is deep down a good person and that her Drill Sergeant Nasty behavior is her way to ensure that her soldiers are well prepared.
Because You Were Nice to Me: In the original light novel, she sees Tanya as a Sergeant Rock, not as a sadistic Omnicidal Maniac, because Tanya turned her expectations on their head by praising her for being a hard-working conscripted soldier. Tanya also berated the two volunteer enlisted soldiers that came with her, telling both of them she expected them to work twice as hard, as the armed forces have no time or space for entitled incompetents. In every other unit, Viktoriya found herself in, the reverse was true, and she was utterly treated like crap.
Big Eater: Downplayed. She eats more than the other soldiers, but considering the setting of this series as Victoriya is the only character In-Universe shown enjoying the food, and ate at least twice the amount her fellow soldiers eat. Even Tanya is surprised about Victoriya eating K-bread as a snack. Even with her youngish age, her fellow soldiers are amazed she could gain weight during wartime as a frontline soldier.
Born Lucky: In poker, at least – in Episode 10 she is the sole winner of their poker night.
- She may be Unluckily Lucky in some case, for getting stuck as Tanya's partner from the get-go. However, being Tanya's partner plays a large role in her career advancement and survival, but also lands her in the most dangerous battles.
The Bus Came Back: While admittedly it was a short bus ride, she left as a corporal and returned as a second lieutenant and Tanya's adjutant.
Card Sharp: While not a major part of her character, on several occasions in the novels it is mentioned that she's managed to win things the unit needed in card games against supply officers from other units.
Deuteragonist: She is the second main focus of the story, and for being Tanya's greatest ally.
Everyone's Baby Sister: Seems to hold this title amongst her fellow officers, despite being Tanya's adjutant and second-in-command of 1st Platoon.
Eye Color Change: Notable in its absence. Despite being highlighted as one of the strongest and most skilled mages in the setting, her eyes don't change color when she uses spells. Everyone else's does.
Genre Savvy: Viktoriya is well aware that she is living through a War Is Hell story during Tanya's intensive training regimen rather than a War Is Glorious story. When Tanya is talking about helping out a friendly artillery unit to get rid of their old shells, Viktoriya is already grabbing an entrenching tool and digging herself a shell scrape while the rest of the wing is still gaping at their commander.
Hero Worship: Among Tanya's subordinates, Victoriya is noticeably more devoted, with half of her monologue praising her commander, ranging from calling her Fairy, Apostle of God, Angel, and Patriot.
Impoverished Patrician: Implied due to her being chased off by an alternate rendition of the Red Army during the fall of the expy Russian Empire.
Improbable Aiming Skills: In episode 11, she shoots Anson Sue with a high-speed, armor piercing round In the Back while he was holding Tanya tightly, intending to self-destruct. What makes this improbable is that the round hits him in the heart, while hitting Tanya in the shoulder after the exit wound, with Viktoriya unable to see where the bullet would hit Tanya since Anson was blocking her view.
Military Mage: Like Tanya, Viktoriya is also an Imperial mage soldier. While usually overshadowed by her commander, she is a competent officer and mage who has quickly matured during her time as a soldier.
Morality Pet: Viktoriya is the one person in the entire setting that Tanya treats even remotely kindly, on genuine feelings, even when Tanya has absolutely nothing to gain by it. Viktoriya, while quick to pick up on it, does not push her luck, and continues to prove herself as being worthy of having the role of Tanya's adjutant.
Nonstandard Character Design: Interestingly, while most human characters are depicted using roughly same art style both in the manga and in the anime (rather realistic for adults and standard magical girl for Tanya), the anime art style for Viktoriya would be better suited for a much younger audience, making her look extremely inexperienced.
Number Two: She serves as Tanya's adjutant after going through officer school, although she is not second-in-command of the 203rd Aerial Mage Wing, that honor belonging to 1st Lieutenant Weiss. In their first battalion, Victoriya still serves as her second in command and the one who leads the group whenever Tanya goes solo.
The Pollyanna: She has so much unshakeable faith in her commander, Tanya, that while everyone else is terrified of the upcoming Suicide Mission in episode nine where none of them can rest easy, she's shown to have fallen soundly asleep while sitting at a table.
Servile Snarker: At least in the anime, Viktoriya keeps Tanya honest with periodic witty one-liners. Viktoriya is the only one Tanya lets get away with it, because as far as Tanya's concerned, she has more than earned the privilege.
Shovel Strike: In the manga during the battle of Osje Fjord, Viktoriya's melee weapon has become her trench shovel rather than the normal bayonet or combat knife.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: the girly girl to Tanya’s tomboy.
Took a Level in Badass: She becomes a significantly more capable soldier after going through officer school. Tanya isn't entirely pleased with this outcome, however, as she feels having someone too competent as a subordinate could jeopardize her chances of getting into rear echelon duty... ignoring the fact that her desire to show her competence as a subordinate is what actually keeps getting her placed on the front lines.
Trial by Friendly Fire: In episode 11, she shoots Anson Sue in the heart while he was holding Tanya in his arms and trying to detonate himself. While this shot also hits Tanya, it does ultimately save her life.
Unconscious Objector: In the stinger of episode 10, when she falls out of bed, thrashing around in her sleep, and Gantz scoops her up to tuck her back in, she not only threatens him with an explosion spell, but punches him in the face, all while talking in her sleep about "eliminating the enemy" and questioning Tanya on further orders.
Vomit Indiscretion Shot: After she had her day in the trenches, she vomited from shock.
Warrior Therapist: In addition to being Tanya's adjutant, she serves this role, to the point of being The Heart and gives the men in Tanya's battalion the encouragement and brief therapy they need to avoid breaking down altogether, to their surprise.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Visha's main motivation for trying her best as a soldier, even though she is a conscripted soldier. She idolizes Tanya and craves her acknowledgment above all else. Which Tanya returns, as she acknowledges Visha as a talented and devoted subordinate.

V601/203rd Mage Batallion -> Salamander

General Tropes

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2017_04_04_19h28_29.png

Tanya's elite Batallion

^{Squadron commanders minus Tanya}

Imperial Army 203rd Air Mage Battalion is a rapid response force led by Tanya von Degurechaff, formed in the year 1925 to realize Tanya's suggestion of Attritional Containment Doctrine to Zettour. Known by their elusive "V601" codename in the future, they have been wiped out from history, with only their recruitment notice left as evidence of their existence. An elite force consisting of 48 active Aerial Mage with powerful Type 97 Elenium Orbs, giving them the capability to fly more than 8,000 feet above sea level and somewhat match Tanya's firepower and mana efficiency. An autonomous unit specialized in guerilla and covert missions.

Badass Crew: After they completed Tanya's training program that made even veteran soldiers pause, officers in charge of human resources like Lehrgen remarked that they're the best batch of Flight Mages the Imperial Army has ever seen.
Comedic Sociopathy: They're subordinates Tanya trained personally after all, who remarks they're competent enough to enjoy war. They're more often than not playing along with Tanya's black humor. Sometimes even Tanya has to stop them from going too far. This trope is not as apparent in the anime as in the manga and the light novel.
"Welcome to the Empire, did you bring your visa?"
"Hahaha, Wing Commander, I forgot the welcoming flowers, what should I do?"
"Sigh, you troublesome fellows. Didn’t we bring fireworks as a substitute?"
"Oh right. Let’s set them off grandly then."
Dance Battler: In their inspection parade and performance in the battlefield, it's noted that while they're not as swift as their commander, their graceful movements as if they were playing hide and seek is envied by other Aerial Mages in the army.
Dwindling Party: Surprisingly, for what is essentially the Empire's firefighting team, the battalion has a zero to low death count. Prior to Volume 5, after finally introducing Mary in the theatre of war, Tanya has only lost men due to rotten potatoes.
Decapitation Strike: One of the Elite Battalion's specialties, since Tanya proposed this doctrine to Zettour during their chat in the War College.
Hypocritical Humor: With their commander, especially in the manga. Both sides often refer to each other as war maniacs.
Tanya: Speaking of good news, except for myself, the subordinates I recruited are all fellows with the scent of battle maniacs.
203rd Battalion: Our commander is still smiling, she is really a battle maniac.
Inspirational Insult: On the receiving end of this from their commander during their training, and whenever they get in trouble with her.
It's Up to You: Considering who their commander is, and their position as a Rapid Response Force, they're more often than not on the receiving end of this trope. They're also an autonomous unit so the brass wouldn't interfere in how they complete their mission as long as they get the job done.
"It seems the brass wants to work us like draft horses."
Manly Tears: In the sixteenth chapter of the manga, in response to Tanya's show of patriotism and mercy for enemies.^note
Master of Illusion: Their initial test is spotting an illusion during a routine meeting, which is in line with their commander's favorite tactic Decoy Fishing that makes use of an optical illusion spell. Unlike Tanya, who deploys this spell as bait, her battalion uses this in tandem with evasive maneuvers, making them impossible to track in the heat of battle, on top of their higher combat aptitude.
Mid-Season Upgrade: After the Battle of Dodobird, Tanya is required to form a kampfgruppe, which she does under the name "Experimental Kampfgruppe Under The General Staff" codenamed Salamander. During its experimental phase; the unit comprises of Tanya's original 203rd Air Mage Battalion along with a reserve air mage company serving as the "anvil" to the 203's "hammer." A paratrooper battalion after the initial 322nd infantry troop disobeyed orders and was subsequently replaced; a self-propelled artillery unit with old model 15cm guns on modified Republican armored cars; and a tank company armed with Panzer IV Ausf. Gs. The practice period saw the paratroopers become a reinforced infantry battalion whose initial commanding officer went MIA. The creation of this unit is what allowed Tanya to be promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
Military Mage: A rapid response force consisting of 48 Aerial Mages.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Tanya's subtle signaling never really gets through to her subordinates, yet they act like it did and she never finds out.
Servile Snarker: The squadron commanders, plus Visha from time to time, will follow up Tanya's remarks whenever the brass give them the most unpleasant and dangerous job with witty remarks. While Tanya is more lenient to Visha for this, she doesn't mind their jokes from time to time and would stop them from getting too far, like the time they wanted to play with a Dacian soldier's corpse in the manga.
Straight for the Commander: This, alongside Decapitation Strike, are the unit's specialty and favored tactic. It's also one of the reasons why numbers will never work on them as they usually destroy the chain of command in the first strike and even seasoned Allied veterans can and will have a hard time defending against them despite knowing Tanya's modus operandi.
Training from Hell: Tanya's special menu that Lehrgen summarized as "Stalked by death for a whole month".^note And by the author, Booted off of Alpen. which is literal to some of them, who were unfortunate enough to fall off when scaling said mountain, Viktoriya included. No one died, but whoever lost consciousness was kicked awake by Tanya, or in Viktoriya's case slapped awake.
Two Girls to a Team: Tanya and Visha are the only female members of the 203rd. There was one more potential member, and she was on the right track to passing the Secret Test but failed due to being too good of a soldier to question a superior officer who turned out to be a decoy illusion.
Undying Loyalty: They would curse Tanya out as laughing and commenting on her quirks behind her back, but there's no doubt they are very devoted to their commander. After witnessing their commander's rage and grief after losing a number of their comrades, it becomes hard to tell whether they're more loyal to Tanya or their country.
With Friends Like These...: Their collective opinion about their commander, whom they fear more than any hellish battlefield. Even her smile traumatizes them and is taken as You're dead if you don't work hard, while at times Tanya means it as encouragement. As Visha aptly put it below,
Visha: "Ah, there was an ally I fear more than the enemy."

Matheus Johan Weiss

1st Lieutenant Matheus Johan Weiss

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matheus_6.png

Voiced by: Daiki Hamano (Japanese), Daman Mills (English)

Rank: First Lieutenant

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Aerial Mage/Second in command of 203rd Air Mage Battalion/Company Commander of 2nd Comapny

He is the Vice commander and 2nd company commander of Tanya's Aerial Mage Battalion. He is a competent officer; even Tanya acknowledges him as someone she could delegate duties to aside from Viktoriya. However, he is also prone to stick to manual, and berated by Tanya for being inflexible in mind. He takes Tanya's criticism seriously and continues to improve himself under her guidance.

Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: In bonus shorts, it's revealed he is a terrible drinker who not only Can't Hold His Liquor but also suffers Personality Inversion that turns him to a Casanova Wannabe.
Badass Bookworm: Played with, he likes reading old books related to ancient warfare and sticking to the manual he learned by heart, but unlike his commander, this becomes a source of his Fatal Flaw because what he learns quickly becomes obsolete in modern war.
Fatal Flaw: Due to the inherent nature of his basic training, before Tanya's, he's a bit too cautious in live combat; This causes him to hesitate or flee in either unfamiliar or suspiciously advantageous situations. In the "battle" of Dacia, this almost got him executed for desertion as he fled from a woefully outdated formation of enemy infantry, and in the battle over Arene, it got him injured in a way that took him out of action because he was so busy expecting a trap that he never even noticed getting shot in the arm.
Hero Worship: Second to Viktoriya, Weiss is deeply impressed by Tanya's critical mind that exceeds known manuals and war results.
Leeroy Jenkins: After being lectured by Tanya for his Fatal Flaw repeatedly, he unwittingly goes too far in the other direction, allowing Anson Sue to lead him into an obvious trap because he was too fixated on taking Anson down to notice his surroundings, and Tanya has to come to his rescue.
Number Two: The deputy-commander of 203rd Mage Battalion, Tanya's second in command.
Sweet Tooth: His known favorite food aside from alcohol, and Tanya has a lot of fun picking on him for this.

Warren Grantz

Second Lieutenant Warren Grantz

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grantz_1.png

Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Japanese), Jeff Johnson (English)

Rank: Second Lieutenant

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Aerial Mage/ 203rd Air Mage Battalion 2nd Company Second-in-command

The most "troubled" of the soldiers under Tanya's direct command in the 203rd battalion. He often serves as the unit's conscience and suffers for it.

Adaptational Backstory Change: Downplayed, but how Grantz got into the 203rd is different in the manga as compared to the anime. While in the anime, he was part of the 203rd since its formation as the V601st, in the manga, he's an officer candidate from OCS going through an accelerated program by having his class attached to the 203rd during their second trip through the Rhine. In fact, unlike the anime, the Arene Massacre is his second combat engagement.
Butt-Monkey: Things seldom go well for him, and when they do it doesn't last very long.
Freak Out: He is the one most likely to suffer one when the 601st is given morally ambiguous orders.
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: On the receiving end when he balks at shooting Republic mages who are guarding civilians in episode 8
Hopeless Suitor: He seems to be smitten with Viktoriya. She's not only oblivious, but seems to only have eyes for Tanya.
You Are in Command Now: When Weiss gets taken out of action due to injury in episode 8, Tanya assigns to him the duty of second in command. His performance is less than stellar.

Imperial Army

Erich von Lehrgen

Colonel Erich von Lehrgen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erich.png

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English), Ferso Velázquez (Latin American Spanish)

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel (later Colonel)

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Vice Director of Strategy and Operations

"That's a monster in a little girl's skin."

He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Imperial Army Personnel Department and has known Tanya ever since she joined the military. He has seen Tanya's true nature during her time in training and views her as a monster in a little girl's body. He is determined to stop Tanya's career in the army because he believes she is a danger both to the Empire and the world in general.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Despite his misgiving about her, Lehrgen fairly assesses Tanya as someone filled with patriotism and the will to contribute to the nation, a soldier so ideal and talented, with the determination to train herself without rest. A soldier that the Empire and an officer in charge of human resources like himself wanted in their ranks, and yet, when all these qualities manifest in Tanya, he realizes the ideal talent the Empire was looking for would be a real monster in reality.
Cassandra Truth: Having witnessed Tanya's ruthlessness once, Lehrgen is convinced that Tanya is a monster who would eventually bring doom to the Empire and the world if left unchecked. Because of this, he actively tries to stop Tanya's rise through the Imperial ranks by reporting her ruthlessness to the upper echelons of the Imperial military at every opportunity. Most Imperial officers either ignore him or, if they DO believe him, consider Tanya to be far too useful to cast aside.
- The Light Novel mentions that no small number of people do believe him, however they didn't think Tanya is as severe a case as Lehrgen believes. Tanya's professors in Military College did, but they assumed that it was a combination of her age and incorrect prior education at OCS and worked to correct her apparent faults instead of firing her.
Foil: Lehrgen is an officer in the Personnel Department of the Imperial Army. As such, he is the military equivalent of a human resources manager, which was Tanya's profession in her previous life. The difference is that Lehrgen has more empathy with the people around him while Tanya is more callous.
Good Old Ways: One of the reasons behind his onesided conflict with Tanya is that her methodologies, which in modern times would be accepted due to their practical nature, are cold and ruthless in his eyes and would change the face of war.
Ironic Echo:
- Lehrgen's first impression of Tanya is that she's "a monster under the guise of a child", and as such, is convinced that one day she will cause the Empire's downfall. A conversation between himself and Tanya about how the Empire's declaration of armistice despite victory being in its grasp will eventually lead to the Empire's downfall changes this, and he realizes Tanya only wants the Empire to win so they wouldn't have to fight another war. This makes Lehrgen see Tanya as not the harbinger of the Empire's doom, but as a true hero of the Empire. As such, during episode 12 of the anime, he has full confidence of the operation the 203rd Mage Battalion are involved in will succeed, because their leader is "a monster under the guise of a child".
- In the earlier days of the war, Lehrgen absolutely abhors having to interact with Tanya and wanted to stay away from her as much as possible. As the situation of the war deteriorates and being consistently exasperated by both the political and military superiors, he thoroughly understands Tanya's actions and has interacted with her more often. Lehrgen even has her made representative to interact with Counselor Conrad of the Foreign Affairs Department to give a frank opinion on the state of the war and seeking counsel for an avenue of peace. He even has her try to bomb Berun under the guise of Commonwealth Strategic Bomber for his superiors stationed at the capital to wake them up on their delusions on winning the current war, much to Tanya's horror and rejection.
Morality Pet: Not as much as Visha, but Tanya's relationship with him is based on nothing but respect (at least on her part, as he mostly sees her as a monster). She sometimes actually feels guilty when she believes that she keeps troubling him too much. Considering that Tanya is pretty much a self-diagnosed sociopath, this is quite out of character.
Only Sane Man: Lehrgen sees himself as one in a world of madness through war. As the story progresses, Tanya's war philosophies are gradually adopted by many Imperial officers. While these methods bring greater effectiveness and efficiency to the Imperial army, the officers are also slowly becoming more ruthless in their approach to war. While he cannot argue against the reasons behind Tanya's war methodology, Lehrgen feels that there is a subtle madness behind said reasoning.
Poor Communication Kills: After seeing Tanya's sadism and ruthlessness, Lehrgen often assumes the worst of her. When she puts on a brave, eager face to impress him, Lehrgen misinterprets this and thinks only a crazy warmonger would smile at the prospect of war, giving his face a You're Insane! expression when looking at Tanya. For her part, Tanya considers Lehrgen to be the only sensible person among officers who would send a child to the front lines of a war, having misinterpreted his attempts to stop her career.
Reasonable Authority Figure: When Tanya was about to kill a recruit for insubordination, Lehrgen barely managed to convince Tanya to stand down. Later, Tanya herself sees Lehrgen as this because she misinterpreted his attempts to halt her military career as a genuine concern for her well-being. Most Imperial generals see him as a competent military officer aside from his constant concern about Tanya.
They Just Dont Get It: In the light novel account of the "battle" with Dacia, all he could comprehend was that the Dacian army had 600,000 infantrymen and simply could not wrap his head around the fact that Tanya's mage battalion was airborne and could utterly rain death down on the Dacians with absolute impunity. Especially considering that the Dacians were all poorly trained conscripts dragged out of their homes and farms, and forced to march to battle with little to no idea of how to properly conduct themselves. As such, he had one epic Freak Out after another as Tanya explained to him, in small, simple terms, how utterly screwed the Dacians were.
Wrong Assumption: While Lehrgen always assumes the worst of her, aside from witnessing her way of disciplining subordinates, he is also highly suspicious of Tanya's "I don't have any choice." lines she uses as her reason to volunteer at her age. In the Light Novel, originally Tanya was taken in by a decent orphanage that received enough donations. Which meant she wasn't abused nor suffered from starvation, and this lead Lehrgen to assume Tanya is a genuine psychopath who joined the military because it's the only career path where killing people is acceptable. The truth? Tanya's is being honest for once. She is a very talented orphan mage candidate so it would have been impossible for her to avoid conscription in the future. So she signed up as a volunteer purely so she could get to officer school and receive better treatment than a conscripted soldier like Viktoriya.
You Have to Believe Me!: Inwardly, Lehrgen has this attitude concerning Tanya. Convinced that the little blonde child soldier would ultimately bring doom to the Empire, he appears to be in agony whenever others dismiss his concerns about Tanya, whenever she is proven right in a given scenario or whenever she gains more influence in the Imperial military through connections (e.g. General von Zettour) or prestige (e.g. Tanya's war accomplishments).

Hans von Zettour

Brigadier General Hans von Zettour

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hans_26.png

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), Mark Stoddard (English), Arturo Mercado (Latin American Spanish)

Rank: Brigadier General

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Deputy Chief of Logistics

"She will bring honor and glory to us all.”

He is the Deputy Chief of Logistics in the Imperial General Staff Office. Introduced in the anime as vice director of strategy and operations. He is the one who decided Tanya should control a new elite mage division after he heard Tanya's passionate talk about the future of the current war.

Based on Hans von Seeckt.

Adaptational Ugliness: Downplayed. In the anime, Zettour looks less physically appealing than the Silver Fox look he has in the manga.
Badass Bookworm: Renowned for his scholar-like mind among his peers, which is also why he takes a shine to Tanya.
Burning the Ships: His orders of assassinating Rudersdorf, in order to lead the Empire, is this. The volume title is even appropriately named for this^noteAlea Iacta Est (The Die is cast).
Delayed "Oh, Crap!": When Tanya first tells him that the current war will escalate to a World War using Total War tactics, he is unable to believe such a thing until he starts seeing the hidden patterns in the reports from the two fronts and with growing horror realizes that Tanya is absolutely correct in her prediction.
Do Not Go Gentle: During his chat with Tanya in his upcoming offensive against the Federation on the Eastern Front in volume 10, he discusses his own fate as both believed that the Imperial defeat is imminent which wells up tears in the eyes of him and Tanya. He uses the victory as a Hope Bringer investment to the troops to fight for the homeland as Zettour believes that even the finest of troops will turn into worthless soldiers when fighting a losing war.
Eyes Always Shut: He is the only character in the anime series portrayed this way so far. He is generally cold and apathetic, and when Tanya asked for only a month to train her battalion, everyone was awestruck except him, giving full approval as long as nobody dies. But when confronted by Erich von Lehrgen on the matter that Tanya was the one who proposed ways to legalize city bombardment, he said that he is going to task Tanya with ending the war with the Republic, with eyes opened asymmetrically, giving him the same psycho look Tanya's sometimes shows within combat.
Field Promotion: In the later volumes; Zettour's successful command of the Eastern Front, earning him a moniker of "The Trickster", gets him promoted back to his old post.
Frontline General: In volume 8, Zettour gets demoted as a field officer overseeing the Eastern Front.
Gracefully Demoted: Invoked in volume 8; Due to the argument he had to the Imperial Government, Zettour is demoted into a field officer overseeing the Eastern Front, which actually gains him support from the military side as he knows the conditions of the front as opposed to the entire General Staff stationed in Berun.
I Did What I Had to Do: As the situation of the war deteriorates further in the later volumes, Zettour has taken morally repulsive actions^note and points this reason out in order to save the collapse of the Imperial fatherland.
I Know You Know I Know: Zettour, after his experience as a "Theatre Inspection Officer" in the Eastern Front, is so good at manipulating people and information that even the Allies admit that he's more skilled than that of their best and most accomplished spies. Even with the Allies access on the Imperial encypted messages, he manages to manipulate them into playing into his objectives like killing Rudesdorf for them at Tanya's behest and watched as the Allies react in horror that they got played right into the hands of a monster.
Military Coup: In volume 8, Zettour discusses this with Tanya on "correcting the mistakes the politicians made". In which, in later volumes, many Frontline Generals like von Rommel and even Lergen support as the situation of the Empire becomes dire.
Mook Commander: In the later volumes, Zettour's presence in the Eastern Front has made the Imperial Army more dangerous that the Allied Nations are constantly finding opportunities in killing him.
Red Baron: In the later volumes, Zettour earns the moniker of The Trickster by the Allied Nations.
The Mentor: Played with To the world, he looks like Tanya's mentor, but he's learning far more from her than she is from him, particularly the mindset needed to think in terms of destroying the enemy. This actually helps him in the Eastern Front, where he knows Tanya's doctrine of Decapitation Strikes enough to counter any cheaply imitated attempts of the Allied Nations to kill him.
Poor Communication Kills: Tanya is absolutely dreadful at indicating her true thoughts as her attempted manipulations completely fail to misinterpret Zettour and the other commander's intentions or interpretations. The problem is that Zettour himself is just as guilty of expecting the most out of all of Tanya's words, and thus unwittingly fails to understand her true meaning at every turn. This gets straight up Played for Drama once the Free Francois Republic rises up as it becomes starkly clear the Empire is going to be caught up in the first World War right off the heels of their previous hard-earned victories, something they can't hope to withstand at that point; he comes to realize Tanya was not vying for patriotism and the Empire's power, but warning well in advance of their national collapse and an inevitable world war the entire time — a warning he realized far too late to do anything about.
The Scapegoat: In the web novels, he takes all the blame for the Empire's actions in the Great War so Tanya can make her escape to the Unified States.
The Strategist: Of the Imperial army along with his partner, Rudersdorf.
Xanatos Speed Chess: What earned him the title as "The Trickster" in the Eastern Front is, due to Tanya's influence, his ability to improvise his plans as he deems fit that even Tanya herself is having a hard time grasping his true intentions, something Zettour is proud about it.
Undying Loyalty: He's always thinking about what he and his soldiers can do to help the country.

Adelheid von Schugel

Doktor Adelheid von Schugel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adelheid_4.png

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita (Japanese), Charles Campbell (English), Jose Luis Miranda (Latin American Spanish ep. 2 only), Armando Coria (Latin American Spanish/rest of the series)

Rank: Development Chief Engineer

Affiliation: Empire

Profession: Scientist

The Empire's main talented (but mad) scientist, inventing many useful weapons during the war. He is the one who invented Tanya's quad-core Type-95 computation jewel and later, the production model dual-core Type-97. Formerly atheist, he becomes devoted to God after Being X blesses his newest creation, the Elenium-95.

Adaptational Ugliness: In comparison to his normal appearance in the light novel and manga, the anime depicts Schugel with Gonk-like features, making him look more like the stereotypical Mad Scientist he is.
Awesome, but Impractical: His modus operandi in designing war equipment and material. He is so fixated on getting the maximum output out of anything he designs, that he never bothers to consider practical applications, limits, or drawbacks. The Type-95 jewel is just the first of his "accomplishments." If a mage can't keep up with his equipment, why, it's the mage's fault entirely, as everything he builds is well within the abilities of any and every mage. In episode 9, he unveils manned cruise missiles designed to go at a max speed of Mach 1.5, but no way to adjust course, slow down, or land. What's more, when questioned about dealing with the vibration and drag caused by going Mach 1.5, he shrugs and says any mage shield can handle it, and it would be weird if they couldn't.
Bad Boss: Numerous mage test personnel have died in his lab because he refuses to acknowledge that the Elenium-95 is way too delicate and temperamental for any practical use. He's insistent that the device keeps exploding because the soldiers are too rough with it, as opposed to the fact that it's far too delicate by nature, completely ignoring the fact that should it be used in battle, it must be able to be handled roughly, which is something Tanya reminds him of, repeatedly, to no avail.
Berserk Button: Don't you dare suggest his "masterpiece," the Elenium-95 jewel is a piece of junk. It's not his fault that soldiers can't handle it properly, even though it is far too delicate for human hands, never mind on the battlefield for which it is ultimately intended.
Flawed Prototype: Though he absolutely refuses to believe it, his Elenium-95 is far, far too unstable to use in any practical setting, at least prior to actual divine intervention, at which point he very loudly proclaims that attempting to recreate the phenomenon is a physical impossibility, and a sacrilege.
For Science!: Even before "Being X" gives him "inspiration," all he cared about was the theoretical success of the type Elenium-95 jewel.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: He wears glasses and is not only wildly unprofessional in the laboratory but is even more villainous than "Being X" and Tanya combined, and that's before being "inspired."
Gender-Blender Name: The name “Adelheid” is actually a German variation of the name “Alice” and thus ‘very’ feminine.
Herr Doktor: His title is German ("Dokutoru" rather than "Dokutaa"), and he works for the Empire.
Just Think of the Potential!: He takes the theoretical limits of the Elenium-95 jewel as undisputed fact, and gets quite cross when anyone points out just how flawed his prototype is.
Karma Houdini: Even when he's interviewed by reporters years after the "Total War" has ended, he's not shown getting anything in the way of punishment for his wanton disregard of human life in his laboratory, and the crimes that stem from it.
Lack of Empathy: He has even less concern for the soldiers of the Empire than Tanya does, and that's no easy feat. He even goes so far as to deliberately disable or remove the jewel's inherent safety devices because they interfere with his sense of aesthetics. Numerous test pilots before Tanya died in his "experiments."
Mad Scientist: Even before Being X "inspired" him, he was quite unhinged.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: For testing personnel like Tanya, after all, do you want to test the invention of someone nicknamed Walking Disaster? Tanya certainly thinks working under him is more dangerous than fighting in the front line.
Never My Fault: The fact that his Elenium-95 prototype keeps blowing up on the testing grounds? It's those stupid soldiers who can't handle the highly unstable four magic core configuration that's the problem, not the fact that the quad-core is so highly unstable that even the most delicate manipulation in human hands is too much for it to handle.
They Just Dont Get It: No matter how often Tanya yells at him, or even his superiors chew him out, he can not comprehend that he's supposed to be designing equipment for the battlefield, where it must be able to withstand being mistreated. Instead, he grows more and more furious that there isn't a mage in existence who can handle the very delicate and temperamental nature of the device even in the calm and controlled environment of the laboratory.
- The light novel explains that Tanya and her superior have different ideas on the objective of their experiment. Schugel wants it to work, so Tanya assumes the test is for practical use, later it's revealed their superior only wants a test on the theoretical possibility of quadcore technology, realistically aware this is a technology that won't be completed in this generation.
Unwitting Pawn: Of Being X, who granted Adelheid the divine inspiration that allows the Elenium-95 to be used in battle. Being X did this to make Tanya even more indispensable on the battlefield, but the inspiration also caused Adelheid to embrace the existence of "God." Because of the latter, Tanya felt pity for the scientist and feared that his fate could be hers one day.

Maximilian Johann von Ugar

Voiced by: Susumu Akagi (Japanese), Chris Rager (English), Alfonso Ramírez (Latin American Spanish)

Rank: Captain -> Major -> Lieutenant Colonel

Affiliation: Empire

"There is something wrong with a society that sends cute little kids to battle, don't you think?”

A classmate of Tanya Degurechaff in their class during War College.

Family Man: He greatly treasures his family, and the birth of his daughter makes him question the insanity of sending kids, such as Tanya, to the battlefield.
Friendly Rivalry: While he was classmates with Tanya, their relationship was not hostile at all, and they spoke in amicable terms. Of course, Tanya had no trouble in persuading him of dropping out so that she would be promoted instead of him.
Nice Guy: He is a good man and doesn't show any villainous flaw. When his daughter is born, he fears the possibility that she might join the military like Tanya did and asks Tanya to resign due to his guilty conscience.
Reasonable Authority Figure: After his daughter was born and seeing Tanya fighting in the frontlines, he realizes just how wrong it is to send cute little kids to fight in wars.
Saved by Canon: Ugar appears in the Arene Memorial Service that occurs 40 years after the World War, so suffice to say he not only survives the war but is also not sentenced.
Unwitting Pawn: Tanya persuades him into going to the rear to prevent his daughter from fighting in the future. In truth, Tanya did this solely so that he would drop out of the promotion track and thus have her main competitor leave. While his reputation was stained after his decision, he manages to keep getting promoted, but at a slower pace, and he is grateful to Tanya for convincing him to do this.

Antagonists

Being X

Multiple facets of Being X in the Manga

"If that’s the case, all I need to do is just throw you into that kind of environment, and you will start to believe and have faith again?"

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese), Alejandro Villeli (Latin American Spanish)

A mysterious being that calls himself "God." He's fed up with people not being as faithful as they used to be. After the salaryman infuriates him further by refusing to believe in his existence and stating that in the modern world, God and faith are no longer needed, he decides to punish the salaryman by reincarnating him in an alternate world similar to early 20th-century Europe as a petite orphan girl named Tanya. If "Tanya" won't die a natural death or if she keeps refusing to have faith in Him, her soul will be sent to the void for the many sins that Tanya has committed in her previous life.

Arch-Enemy: To Tanya, being responsible for the entire event of the story and a great portion of what Tanya does being motivated on getting revenge on Being X.
Big Bad: Being X is certainly the head villain from Tanya's perspective, given how much trouble he throws her way.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: It becomes clear pretty fast that this thing's thought process is so alien that its understanding and comprehension of humanity could be considered nonexistent at best.
The Corruptor: Of the people who have received his "blessings", Tanya is the only one who has not been twisted into an unrecognizable, fanatical Empty Shell of their former self, and only because she recognizes the danger and avoids overusing her orb, and has a strong reticence towards Being X's influence. From the way he offers power at the cost of one's sanity, you could easily take Being X for a Satanic Archetype rather than the god he supposedly is.
Crossover Cosmology: In the manga, Being X turns out to be a council of sorts derived of many different mythological deities. The way they speak to each other however is similar to the Socratic Dialogue, thus making all of them Literal Split Personalities of the amalgamation that is Being X.
Depending on the Writer: The portrayal of "Being X" varies so wildly between media that one has to wonder if it's even the same character in each adaptation, though the core character is the same in that they all refuse to accept that the salaryman might have a point and make their conclusion that lands the protagonist in their current fate.
- In the original light novel, "Being X" is portrayed as an inept, bumbling, incompetent bureaucrat who admits that the faith, karma, and reincarnation system it created is broken but refuses to take responsibility despite being the one who created it, and lashes out at the MC, for little to no reason, even going so far as to make up crimes to punish him.
- In the manga, "Being X" wears the trappings of Abrahamic God, but acts more like the popular portrayal of Zeus, and takes the form of numerous entities from various religions simultaneously and they all debate one another to decide the best course of action.
- The anime portrayal shows this entity as some being so horribly overworked due to managing the wheel of karma that it's looking to cut corners by considering people who have no faith in any form of the divine as "a waste of time". Thus being quick to jump on the opportunity presented by the MC to test the concept of "faith through hardship" because even if the "experiment" fails, the result will still greatly reduce its workload.
Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: It probably wasn't the best idea for the Salaryman to deliver a lack of faith speech to an entity claiming to be God and displaying reality-warping powers.
Dramatically Missing the Point: The one consistent thing about all "Being X" incarnations, regardless of medium, is that it chooses to interpret the male salaryman's hypothesis about the cause of the lack of faith as "people have no need to pray because they're content" rather than "people have no desire to pray when offered nothing in return." This misunderstanding kicks off the plot in a fit of anger, putting the protagonist through a living hell and then being completely shocked when Tanya refuses to offer up prayers of supplication.
Gods Need Prayer Badly: The driving force behind Being X and its complaints with the lacking quantity of faith within humanity as a whole. It's also what makes it go through with the experiment due to the possibility of restoring this lost faith in it once more, using Tanya, an atheist, as a test subject.
Jerkass Gods: Being X is so fed up with people not being as faithful as they used to, that it takes the biggest atheist it can find and put him, now her, in situations where she is forced to pray to become devout. That this impiety is more important to it than the other ills of the world (to the point where it muses that eliminating modern 1st-world comforts and basic safety would be a great way to restore people's faith, hence its kicking off the plot to test this) does not paint it in a very positive light.
Loophole Abuse: True to its word, it upholds its promise to keep its influence in Tanya's life at a minimum. However, anyone else around her? Fair game.
Manipulative Bastard: Being X has quietly influenced Tanya's life since her birth into the new world. It granted Tanya her magical aptitude, ensuring that she would be drafted into the Empire's army no matter what she did. Being X has also influenced the people in Tanya's life to ensure that her life would be in the greatest possible danger to eventually break her atheist resolve. This plan includes giving the inventor of her Type-95 divine inspiration and a general the idea of a rapid-response team to handle crises on the front lines. Later, Being X saves the life of a vengeful enemy mage soldier and grants him magical power comparable to Tanya's to set him up as a Worthy Opponent for their common foe.
Mad God: Invoked by Tanya, who accuses Mysterious Being X of being completely insane for being willing to plunge an entire planet into a World War to get her to worship him.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In the Light Novel, Being X warned the Rus Union's communist leader of his apostle coming to punish them for not believing in God. Perhaps this is All According to Plan to Being X to an extent, as now Tanya has to fight the Rus Union who opens fire first, but alerting the communists to Tanya's presence in their country doesn't help his unwilling apostle deliver punishment.
The Omnipresent: In the anime, Being X could manifest itself as any number of people or objects, anytime and anywhere. In the manga and novel, it can manifest as any number of known deities anywhere. Which is one of the reasons why Tanya has to constantly keep her guard up: fearing that Being X could take advantage of a moment of weakness and hopes to kill it if given a chance.
Pet the Dog: That said, despite being a massive jerkass and troll towards Tanya, it does reward those who show it the full devotion and faith that it feels it deserves when given it by their own volition, as seen with Adelheid von Schugel and (anime only) Anson Sue.
They Just Dont Get It: "Being X" wants to bend Tanya into worshipping it. Thus it puts Tanya through unspeakable hardship, hoping to drive Tanya into supplication out of desperation. The plan fails as it only serves to exacerbate Tanya and make her more recalcitrant. So "Being X" goes and makes the hardship worse, which drives Tanya even further away from even thinking about offering prayer willingly, aside from the "not mandatory" use of the Type-95 jewel. "Being X" refuses to comprehend why this approach is not working.
Time Stands Still: Whenever Being X appears to Tanya in the anime, the passage of time stops.
Troll: To the point where it at one point only appeared to Tanya to taunt her with a Slasher Smile to boot.
The Voice: Similarly to the Abrahamic God, Being X never shows its true form and instead takes the form of a person or inanimate object close by when contacting Tanya.
- Interestingly, this is not the case in the novel or manga, where All Myths Are True is in effect (and all of them being parts of Being X adds another insight to its thought-process in the process).

Anson Sue

Colonel Anson Sue

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anson_1.png

Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi (Japanese), Jarrod Greene (English), Martín Soto (Latin American Spanish ep. 2 only), Leonardo Garcia (Latin American Spanish/rest of the series)

Rank: Colonel

Affiliation: Legadonia Entente Federation

Profession: Aerial Mage

"I will never let my homeland fall!"

Anson Sue is the commanding officer of the Legadonia Federation's 5th Air Mage Battalion who is first seen when they encountered, at the time, Second Lieutenant Tanya Degurechaff during her first combat mission in Norden. He is a loyal soldier who cares a lot for his country, comrades, and family. Which is why losing half of his squadron to Tanya in their first encounter hit him hard. The second time Tanya and her first squadron not only annihilate the majority of his wing but also deliver a fatal blow to his country that brings their downfall.

He is the father of Mary Sue who will become Tanya's nemesis and also the trigger of Start of Darkness for his daughter, turning her from a sweet kid to a revenge-obsessed girl in later volumes.

Back for the Dead: He manages to escape Tanya's suicidal charge in her first battle, and reencounters her in the Orse Fjord, only to get himself killed by charging her in a fit of revenge-fueled rage. Subverted as Being X ultimately decides to save him. For all of two episodes. Then he dies for real.
Cold Sniper: He ends episode 10 with shooting down one of Tanya's battalion, and then unemotionally stating "one enemy down" from so far away, Tanya didn't even see the attack.
Colonel Badass: Taking Tanya one-on-one is no small feat and remember, this was before Being X gave Sioux its blessing.
Convenient Coma: The stinger of episode 8 reveals he's been unconscious for a month.
Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Combined with But Now I Must Go. He sends his daughter out of the country because the war is getting too dangerous for her to stay, but his duty forbids him from joining her.
Death or Glory Attack: His suicidal charge in episode 7 of the anime was all about this. Either he kills Tanya, or goes down trying. He goes down but is saved by Being X at the last moment.
Demonic Possession: Even his corpse tries to kill Tanya, under control of "being X" in episode 11.
Despair Event Horizon: Even before the attack of Orse Fjord, Anson is already feeling the strain from foreseeing his country's doom. Holding on a Hope Spot that at least he could stall time so more of their people could flee the crumbling country, and his family would live peacefully away from Legadonia. The Empire, however, has no plans on prolonging the war and cut the Entente's life short by launching a rear attack, snuffing out his hope on top of losing his men for the second time to Tanya.
Dramatic Irony: Anson Sue is a devout follower of God, a loving family man, dislikes conflicts, and a skilled soldier loyal to his men and country. Unfortunately, his country started the war in the first place, so he's forced to fight for his country. His superiors aren't as competent as he is which ultimately leads to the loss of young soldiers in the war, something that he finds regrettable as he believes the youth should be protected by their country and not the other way around. Finally, the person who would ultimately kill him is an orphan and an atheist who would rather see the world burn than willingly worship a deity. To twist the knife further, when he and Tanya pray to Being X for the strength to kill the other during the Battle of Orse Fjord, it was Tanya's prayer that gets answered instead. Even with Being X's intervention to save his live after losing at Orse Fjord and blessing, he still gets defeated and finally killed off during his final duel with Tanya. Even after he dies, it seems that Being X has a way of screwing the man over because his daughter, who he didn't want to involve in the war, ultimately follows in his footsteps as a soldier and almost gets killed by Tanya.
Eyepatch of Power: His introduction in episode 10 has him wearing an eye-patch over his left eye, and he's charging shotgun shells with magic power.
Fatal Family Photo: He takes one out of his pocket in episode 6 before heading to fight Tanya's surprise attack. Subverted as he barely survives his encounter with Tanya.
A Father to His Men: Aside from his patriotic devotion to his home country, his subordinates are his top priority. As such, he takes their deaths under Tanya badly.
Field Promotion: He is promoted to colonel in episode 6 after his superior was killed. He was not exactly thrilled with this promotion since he can already tell that the country isn't going to last long with the rate that it has been losing its officers.
Foil: To Tanya. He is her mirror image in every feasible way. Fans note that at the end of episode 8's stinger, his injuries are an exact mirror image to those Tanya sported after making a suicidal Taking You with Me charge against his unit way back in her first sortie.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: He has a scar just above his right eye. He gains a new one that goes diagonally from the top right of his head, across his left eye and down his left cheek.
Hero Antagonist: He's a certified war-hero in his home nation and his actions come off as infinitely much more humane and sympathetic than Tanya's. However this is averted later on in the Anime. After he is saved by Being X, he becomes extremely unhinged and is ready to do anything to get his vengeance against Tanya.
Honor Before Reason: Anson Sue could've retreated and lived to fight another day after it was clear that Orse Fjord was lost. However, he chose to execute one final charge to Tanya, hoping to at least take her down. He ends up with a bayonet through his stomach and Tanya taking the gun given to him by his daughter as spoils of war. He does survive thanks to Being X and returns to fight another day.
Hypocrite: He sees Tanya as a monster, never mind that he started this when he was leading several men, likely a company or two, to hunt down lone empire spotters and having no qualms about it when one of the targets turned out to be a young girl; Tanya simply dared to kill several of the men under his command in a battle for survival.
Ironic Echo: His daughter gives him a hand-crafted rifle with his initials on it, as an early Christmas present, to help protect himself. Tanya takes it from his corpse as an early Christmas present for herself because it's a better mage-firearm than her standard-issue model.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: His obsession with killing Tanya in episode 10 becomes so acute that he doesn't even attempt to contact his family, and is guarded by his Entente allies, not for his protection, but to stop him from rushing out on his own and killing every Imperial he finds, even non-combatant men, women, and children.
My Country, Right or Wrong: Despite being well aware of his country's flaws, and being quite cross with its politicians for kicking off the war with their careless "busking," he's still fiercely protective of his home.
Not Quite Dead: It looked like he died when Tanya shot him down in episode 7, but The Stinger in episode 8 reveals that Being X saved him in the last moment and has now blessed him with powers similar to Tanya's. Not that the new powers help the guy.
Psychotic Smirk: He pulls several of these during his final battle against Tanya.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes turn red when trying to activate his self-destruct attack to kill Tanya, twice.
Reforged into a Minion: This is Anson's fate after he is saved by Being X, whether he realizes it or not.
Revenge Myopia: He's determined to kill Tanya, "The Devil of the Rhine," at all costs for the deaths of his men. He completely neglects the fact that the only reason Tanya killed them was that they invaded her country and tried to kill her first.
Spell My Name With An S: The official translation of his surname is Sue, but his name due to Engrish does sound like Sioux.
Shotguns Are Just Better: During his final clash against Tanya, he pulls out a Winchester 1897 shotgun, made all the more awesome by the fact that the enchanted shots create fields of beautiful explosions in the air. In a Genius Bonus, Tanya finds the choice of weapon distasteful, and alleges that it violates treaties.
Taking You with Me: Subverted. He blows himself up to try to kill Tanya, but she survives.
Tragic Keepsake: The initialed submachine gun bought for him by his daughter.
Unknown Rival: In the manga, Tanya doesn't recognize him at all, while he has sworn vengeance against her: first, for destroying most of his wing at the very beginning of her career, and then, leading a vicious attack that dooms his country. The third time they meet, she quickly bayonets him and steals his gun, wondering where she's seen the guy before.
Unwitting Pawn: Of Being X, who has saved his life and granted him magical powers on par with Tanya's. It is possible that Being X intends to set Anson up as a Worthy Opponent for Tanya in yet another plan to pressure her into worshipping them. It works about as well as the rest of Being X's ill-advised plans.

Severin Vianto

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/severin.png

Voiced by: Ryokan Koyanagi (Japanese), Kent Williams (English), José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin American Spanish ep. 1 only), Irwin Daayán (Latin American Spanish/rest of the series)

Rank: Colonel

Affiliation: Francois Republic

Profession: Aerial Mage

"The Devil of Rhine? So they go straight to their big gun this time."

The commanding officer of the Republican's 2nd Air Mage Battalion, he is first seen reporting intel on The Devil of Rhine to his superior in anime. He met Tanya Degurechaff during the battle of Arene, as the leader of Aerial Mage Battalion who helps rebels of Arene fighting against Imperial soldiers. He is eagerly loyal to his country but tempered with calmness as shown by his sound judgment when the 203rd Batallion led by Tanya overwhelmed his men and ordered a withdrawal.

Adaptational Wimp: Compared to his achievements in the manga, in the anime, he comes off as less powerful and less competent.
Cassandra Truth: On the receiving end when Tanya gave him and the rest of Arene's population an official warning, stating international law word for word in the middle of battle demanding him to come forward and releasing captured soldiers. Knowing who was giving the warning post-Dacia's war, he should have known better.
Failed a Spot Check:
- He knows how dangerous Tanya is in battle, but is wholly unaware of her capability as commanding officer. Which is justified due to prior data on Tanya in the Rhine suggest she fights mostly solo, which leads to him completely ignoring her warning during the battle of Arene.
- He was counting that Tanya would follow the international laws and not endanger civilians. He failed to take into account that A) by not evacuating the civilians after the evacuation order was given, those same civilians could be re-classified as enemy soldiers if the laws were to be interpreted in a certain way; and B) the fact that some of said civilians took up arms and executed Imperial prisoners would put up to question just how innocent said civilians were.
A Father to His Men: To a lesser extent, but he is shown refraining as much as he could from needlessly endangering his men.
Never My Fault: He solely blames Tanya for the massacre at Arene and seeks vengeance for it. While Tanya did use loopholes in the international laws, so her idea was not to be expected, he is also to blame for inciting the civilians to rise against the Empire and for not evacuating all the non-combatants before Tanya counterattacked.
Oh, Crap!: His reaction when he came to an understanding what Tanya's warning was for, and the following destruction of Arene.
Pragmatic Hero: In the Arene battle Vianto shows to be willing to use loopholes just like Tanya. After the Empire sent an evacuation order, he did not evacuate the civilians because having them on the city would keep him and his troops safe from Imperial retaliation. Unfortunately for him, Tanya is not only more pragmatic than him, but her ruthless mindset allowed her to find a loophole as well.
Properly Paranoid: As soon as intel about the existence of Tanya is confirmed he is rightfully worried and very cautious when encountering her in battle.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: He is a Colonel and is worthy of it considering that he manages to not only hold his ground against Tanya for a while but even survive several magical blasts she fired at him.
The Strategist: During the battle of Arene, as soon as Tanya's presence was confirmed, he ordered a guerilla battle, focusing on buying time instead of facing her head on. Too bad for him, Tanya noticed this a few minutes into the battle and scattered her subordinates to round them up. Even then, he still made a sound judgment to withdraw to avoid complete annihilation, which saved his men because Tanya deemed they could be spared if they were far away from Imperial Artillery.
Tragic Mistake: Ultimately, his decision of not heeding Tanya's warning led to massive civilian casualties in Arene. Justified as he knew that international law would not allow the Empire to bombard Arene if there were civilians there, but failed to realize that Tanya also knew the rules and found a way around it anyway.
Worthy Opponent: He hates Tanya 'The Devil of the Rhine', especially after the whole Arene incident, but he is forced to admit that her battle and tactical prowess are remarkable.

Mary Sue

Second Lieutenant/Warrant Officer Mary Sue

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mary_6.png

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese), Tia Ballard (English), Alondra Hidalgo (Latin American Spanish/TV series), Nycolle Gonzalez (Latin American Spanish/movie)

Rank: Private First Class -> 2nd Lieutenant (Warrant Officer in the film)

Affiliation: Unified States/Entente Alliance

"I declare that for the sake of the peace I must protect and for the sake of the family I love, I will give my whole power! To make a world that no one else has to experience the sadness of losing their family to the Empire. And to enact God's justice! I swear by my good heart that believes in the Lord! May the Lord's grace be with me!"

Mary Sue, also known as Mary, the sole daughter of Anson Sue, a former citizen of Legadonian Entente Alliance who migrated to the US with her mother, leaving her father to defend their homeland. One of the main antagonists of the series, the ultimate rival and the tool used by Being X to stabilize a neutral war against Tanya von Degurechaff. The anime already foreshadows her future role, but please be aware of unmarked spoiler below.

Action Girl: Being part of military and Tanya's rival, she couldn't be anything but this.
Adaptational Badass: During her fight with Tanya at the climax of the movie, Tanya is most of the time on the defensive and evading Mary's destructive beams. Even after being severely injured, Mary manages to pin Tanya down and beating her to a bloody pulp, only losing because she didn't confirm that her foe was dead. Mary, in the light novel, has never been capable to put Tanya on the ropes, and all of their skirmishes ends with Tanya as the unquestionable victor.
Adaptational Curves: The manga and anime makes Mary unreasonably busty for a twelve-year-old.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The only reason she gets promoted because of her battle prowess and her ability to counter Tanya. It is a Deconstructed Trope because she has absolutely no skills in any other skill important during wartime, such as strategical thinking or leadership, and this shows by how she acts on the battlefield.
Berserker Tears: When she enlists in the US army, she's crying in grief and rage as she's voicing the oath listed in the page quote.
Big Bad Wannabe: Inverted, as Mary, for all her flaws, is a Hero Antagonist. However, as much as she claims to be fighting for justice and sees herself as the one that will defeat the Empire, she actually is responsible for more people of her side dying than imperials. And while she was picked by Being X to be Tanya's ultimate rival, she's ultimately more of a nuisance to Tanya than what was intended.
Black-and-White Insanity: Mary has little to no concept of ambiguity in war. Her father was a hero for fighting for his country. The Empire is evil for attacking her nation and Tanya is a demon in human form for killing her father.
Cast from Sanity: Her power of blessing to surpass Tanya is fueled by her hatred.
Eye Color Change: Her eyes turn to gold as she's officially enlisted. This foreshadows the fact that she's the new toy of "Being X."
Fatal Flaw: Wrath and naivety. Her desire for revenge against Tanya and the Empire leads to her becoming the perfect new pawn for Being X. This, combined with her naivety, leads to her being hated by her own comrades as she constantly takes actions that do not benefit her allies at all to fulfill her personal desire for revenge. In the web novel, when the Empire sues for peace, the higher ups realize Mary's wrath will ensure she will only accept complete annilation of the Empire despite both sides taking considerable losses. Ultimately, they decide that she is far too dangerous to peace talks to keep alive and order her death, which was not helped by her being hated by her comrades from her reckless naivety.
Foil: To Tanya, if we ignore the reincarnation bit.
- Their fathers were both soldiers who died on duty, and they were both raised in a religious environment. While Tanya joined the military purely for a pragmatic purpose, Mary is a patriot who inherited her father's ideals.
- Both of them are aces with the power of a blessed operational orb but unlike Tanya who uses hers cautiously and who is aware of the mental corruption, Mary, as a devout believer, completely gives in to its influence. Additionally, Tanya is also a highly intelligent and cunning strategist who brings far more than just raw firepower onto the battlefield, Mary is a Person of Mass Destruction who far exceeds Tanya in terms of damage output, but has absolutely zero understanding of war and tactics. She is also shown to be a terrible shot, if not for the blessings of Being X, she would have nothing of any value to bring at all.
- Tanya is borderline obsessed with following rules and doing things by-the-book, and merciless towards those who fail to do so, Sue meanwhile is a loose cannon who puts her personal revenge against Tanya above direct orders. Tanya holds the belief that emotions have no place on the battlefield - disregarding some Blood Knight tendencies that are at least partially an act, and never get in her way of following orders. Sue on the other hand fully taps into her absolute hatred for Tanya into a state of Unstoppable Rage that treats everything and everyone that isn't Tanya as if they weren't even there. Tanya holds Sue in absolute contempt for this, calling her an "animal". However, in regards to having a quest for vengeance they'll stop at nothing to achieve, the two are perhaps not so different when you consider Tanya's visceral and absolute hatred for Being X.
- Lastly, while Tanya is respected by both her superiors and subordinates, Mary is overall hated due to her naivete and recklessness. If she weren't a godlike (almost literally) mage, she would probably have been thrown out for insubordination on about a million different occasions. At the end of the war in the web novel, Zettour takes the full blame so that Tanya could get a fresh start in the United States; whereas Mary's comrades butcher her to pieces and ensure that she will get a dishonorable charge.
Follow in My Footsteps: She becomes an Aerial Mage and soldier just like her father. Due to the anime's Adaptation Expansion, she is this more than her job and devotion to her country, and not in a good way.
Godzilla Threshold: Mary's superiors see her as a dangerous weapon that gives them a fighting chance against the "Devil of the Rhine", the Imperial "Ace of Aces" whose accomplishments have almost single-handedly brought the Empire's enemies to their knees.
Good Counterpart: Zigzagged. Supposedly, she is the heroic counterpart to the villainous Tanya. However, Mary is also a symbol of human traits that Tanya personally hates, namely Blind Obedience (to a dubious, manipulative, and selfish deity), Honor Before Reason (prioritizing personal feelings over reality regardless of the cost), Irrational Hatred (the angry refusal of humanity to accept logic and reason) and Revenge Myopia (the narrow-minded worldview that allows people to justify the suffering they inflict on others, despite being no better than what they hate). Overall, Mary is an exemplar of everything that Tanya hates in all humans.
Hate Sink: It may sound surprising for a supposed Hero Antagonist, but Mary's reputation is quite low both in and out of universe. In the story, her superiors can't stand her due to her naive and gullible nature that does more harm than good to her own side. Alongside this, the fans also hate for her high levels of Revenge Myopia and how she represents a lot of the worst traits people can show during wartime.
Hero Antagonist: Deconstructed. On the surface, Mary is the very image of a modern wartime poster child: a patriotic crusader determined to avenge her family and bring justice to The Empire. Deep down, she is a deeply disturbed girl who vents her rage and desire for vengeance on all who have wronged her, whether for good reason or not. It doesn't help that Mary is The Chosen One of Being X, who fuels her devotion and rage to murderous levels whenever she encounters Tanya. A poster advertising the 2019 movie portrays Mary as a singing angel, symbolizing her myopic beliefs about being a hero, in contrast to Tanya, who has no such delusions.
Idiot Hero: The complete opposite of her arch-enemy, Mary is a kindhearted girl, though she is also a very naive and gullible person that can't understand the intricacies of war. While part of this could be justified due to her being a kid, the fact that she never seems to learn from her mistakes ruins this excuse.
Important Haircut: In the film, she cuts most of her hair aside from her sides and bangs to fit in with her military unit.
Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: At times, as a genuine devotee, she didn't resist the mental corruption of her blessing.
Karma Houdini: Downplayed. Despite her several acts of disobeying orders, acting behind her superiors' backs and reckless behavior on the battlefield that, mind you, often leads to more of her side dying than of those fighting for the Empire, Mary suffers very little repurcossions for this, due to a mixture of her being Being X's chosen, a voluntary soldier from the Entente and her magical power being too considerable for the Allies to waste it, as she is the only can match Tanya. The closest things to punishment she gets is a scolding from her superiors and being constantly defeated by Tanya. Note that this only applies to the anime and manga - in the web novel, she's given an enormous Humiliation Conga ending in her receiving a post-mortem dishonorable discharge.
- Keep it in mind that Tanya, for all her accomplishments, was pretty much threatened with execution the one time she considered ignoring the upcoming amnesty between the Empire and the Republic.
Laser-Guided Karma: Throughout most of the war, Mary's naive, reckless and bloodthirsty demeanor, which caused more deaths from her own side than on the Empire, went unpunished due to her being the Allies' asset. But, in the web novel, once the war ends, Mary is no longer useful and she is deemed too much of a loose canon for the new age of peace to last. Mary's comrades that managed to survive end up stabbing her several times. To add insult to injury, after seeing herself as the heroine that would defeat the evil Empire and bring peace to the world, Mary gets a dishonorable discharge post-mortem.
Lethally Stupid: Mary's single minded obsession of killing Tanya has inflicted more casualties on the former's side rather than that of the Empire's.
Military Maverick: Deconstructed as Mary's single minded obsession of killing Tanya has done more harm than good on her own side. Her senior officer, Lt.Col. Drake, is constantly exasperated on her acts of insubordination that he once preferred having an obedient communist subordinate rather than Mary and constantly envies the Empire for having Tanya in their ranks.
Moral Myopia: Practically the embodiment of this concept within the series after Being X gives her powers - Mary views her cause as righteous and wants to avenge her father's death at Tanya's hands. She absolutely refuses to acknowledge any possibility that her father's death was just another casualty of war, that the Empire has any right to defend itself, or that Tanya could be anything more than a monster.
My Country, Right or Wrong: Defied. She believes her country is by default right, to the point she defies orders to defend their allies despite said allies having put all of their Mages in camps. Because of this she also sees the Empire as default evil.
- Mary actually knows that her country started the war against the Empire during her conversation with Liliya, a Federation political officer mage, after suffering an attack from Devil Of The Rhine that left most of their forces and the RMS Queen of Anjou destroyed.
Named After Somebody Famous: Also overlaps with Meaningful Name as well. She is named from biblical Mary of Nazareth, and, by Word of God, she was deliberately named after the term Mary Sue as a way to show she was powered by a divine entity.
Near-Villain Victory: In the movie, Mary gives Tanya a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown after downing her at a ruined church. Believing she had won, Mary tiredly rises to her feet and is about to give thanks to the church's goddess statue when Tanya, badly injured but alive, throws a knife into Mary's back. With a twisted look of absolute rage that screams Why Won't You Die?, Mary lunges at Tanya only to be shot point blank several times, with Tanya's bullets also damaging the goddess statue as a symbol of her contempt for Being X. Mary is saved at the last minute by her commanding officer and left weeping that she had failed to kill her hated enemy.
One-Woman Army: Pure destruction-wise, she even outpaces Tanya, but at the cost of her sanity.
Person of Mass Destruction: Her magic is so powerful that she's less of a soldier, and more of a ground-level orbital canon. Her first major shot does more damage than anything Tanya or her company ever accomplished, and then she starts chasing Tanya through the streets with not enchanted bullets, but lances of pure magical energy.
Power Gives You Wings: In the manga, her awakening the powers given by Being X provides her with angel-like wings.
The Power of Hate: Mary's offensive power far surpasses Tanya's — such as her being able to fire devastating energy beams from her gun — due to Being X both rewarding Mary for her utter devotion and showing Tanya how powerful she could be if she submitted to his will; and she only grows more powerful when around Tanya due to her rage and hatred.
Reforged into a Minion: Following her father's fate, she is this. Whether she is aware of it or not as a genuine devout believer, she seems to be fine with this.
Revenge Myopia: She's determined to avenge her beloved father, and becomes obsessed with "The Devil of the Rhine." Even her superior struggles to keep her in line even though she is relatively obedient as long as Tanya is not concerned. Because she joined this war half-way, she seems to be unaware or uncaring that it was her country who started the war, unlike her father who was fully aware of his country's fault. Mary is already obsessed with defeating the Empire by the time she volunteers for bringing tragedy to her family and has vowed to bring them to justice.
The Rival: She is the only mage among the Allies that can match and even surpass Tanya, and Mary is hellbent on killing her arch-enemy. Tanya, though, mostly sees her as a reckless beast to be put down rather than a Worthy Opponent.
Sanity Has Advantages: Mary has had Tanya dead to rights before, only for her own emotionally charged, overly dramatic personality to sabotage her efforts. The fact that such behavior is Tanya's Berserk Button only makes these tendencies more self sabotaging.
Sociopathic Soldier: The Jingo type. She's absolutely convinced that the Empire is irredeemably evil, so she believes that any crimes and suffering inflicted on the Empire, soldier or civilian, is just.
Spanner in the Works: Mary is this to the Allies in Volume 12. Due to Zettour's actions in Ildoa, the Unified States doesn't want to advance further towards the Ildoan capital due to supply line issues and the Russy Federation hopes to stay it that way as the US capturing back Ildoa would do severe damage to their propaganda machine. Zettour and Tanya hoped for the Allies to take the bait by abandoning the capital in which Mary took back from them, even waving the US flag in the city.
Spell My Name With An S: Official translation of her surname is Sue, but her name due to Engrish does sound like Sioux.
Super Gullible: After a battle, her squadron captures several russian separatists that don't want, in any way, to be sent to the Russy Federation for very good reasons. However Mary ends up going after her superior's back and sends all of them to the Federation. Why? Because a Federation Commissar told her that the Federation has abolished the death penalty. Drake is left fuming after knowing Mary's level of idiocy, and even more after Mary clearly not understanding what she did wrong.
Unskilled, but Strong: In terms of power, speed and accuracy she is superior to Tanya with her blessing. However, she is inexperienced and has none of Tanya's talent in tactics and leadership, making her an attack dog to give the allies a chance to neutralize Tanya.
Unwitting Pawn: Being X set her as Worthy Opponent for Tanya. Aside from neutralizing her, Mary also shows how much power Tanya could get if she were a devout believer like Mary. Of course, this is just another ill-advised plan that proves to Tanya that God Is Evil.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Played with, she still has her sweet disposition, but due to her obsession with revenge her mentality is unstable especially in battle.
Wave-Motion Gun: Her signature move, and she hands them out like candy. Even Tanya doesn't seem capable of that kind of firepower, probably because she's far more cautious about praising Being X.
With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Her Rage Mode, which uses her hatred and grudge towards "the Devil of the Rhine" as a source of power. It gives her enormous power but at the cost of losing control of her movements and mindset, turning her into a mindless berserker.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the web novels, the Empire was eventually defeated but was able to sue for peace. Weary of further violence due to the massive loss of life on all sides, the top brass of the enemy countries seriously considered the offer but also realized that Mary, their ace in the hole, would accept nothing less than the Empire's complete annihilation. Fearing disruptions to the peace talks, the order for Mary's death was handed down. In the end, she was tricked and betrayed by her own comrades, who secretly hated her for her naivete and recklessness, and cruelly stabbed and cut literally to pieces.

Lavrentiy "Loliya" Beria

Brigadier General Lavrentiy "Loliya" Beria

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6783259.png

Voiced by: Yuichi Nagashima (Japanese), Herman López (Latin American Spanish)

Rank: Brigadier General

Affiliation: Rus Union

"My beloved cute wife!"

Lavrentiy Beria is one of the leading figures of the Union's military as the Commissariat of Internal Affairs. Has an unhealthy obsession with Tanya whom he intends to capture and make his wife.

Ax-Crazy: It doesn't take long to see that he is even more insane than Tanya. And not in a good way, either.
The Cameo: He can be briefly seen near the end of the final episode of the Anime, though only half of his face is visible.
Dirty Old Man: Much like his real-life counterpart, Beria is a sexual predator who abuses his position of power to rape women. And it's pretty clear that his obsession with Tanya is sexual.
The Dreaded: As the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, he's rightfully feared within the Russy Federation for a very good reason.
Historical Domain Character: Unlike most of the other characters in the series who are entirely fictional and only take elements from real people, Lavrentiy Beria was, unfortunately, a real person. Although he was the head of NKVD and a politician in real life, rather than a general in the military.
Love at First Sight: He falls for Tanya right after witnessing her for the first time during the Moskva Raid.
Meaningful Name/Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His nickname is a combination of the words loli and yandere, making it quite clear what he wants to do to Tanya.
Secret Police: He leads a secret police group dedicated towards "apprehending dangerous individuals". Its for this reason that he's one of The Dreaded personnel within the Russy Federation.
Sinister Surveillance: As the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, he's capable of obtaining information of any individual unlucky enough to be their target. Lt.Col. Drake is shocked at how much information they could have on their targeted inviduals when, as goodwill towards allies, they gave massive information on Imperial Army personnels Zettour and Tanya^note including the duo's own habits and tendencies. Drake even notes that even the Commonwealth's prowess in espionage pales in comparison.
Yandere: He intends to make Tanya his wife, no matter what.

Characters / The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Main Characters

Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff

2nd Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna "Visha" Serebryakov

V601/203rd Mage Batallion -> Salamander

1st Lieutenant Matheus Johan Weiss

Second Lieutenant Warren Grantz

Imperial Army

Colonel Erich von Lehrgen

Brigadier General Hans von Zettour

Doktor Adelheid von Schugel

Antagonists

Being X

Colonel Anson Sue

Severin Vianto

Second Lieutenant/Warrant Officer Mary Sue

Brigadier General Lavrentiy "Loliya" Beria

Alternative Title(s): Youjo Senki, Saga Of Tanya The Evil

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / The Saga of Tanya the Evil

Edit Locked

Main Characters

Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff

2nd Lieutenant Viktoriya Ivanovna "Visha" Serebryakov

V601/203rd Mage Batallion -> Salamander

1st Lieutenant Matheus Johan Weiss

Second Lieutenant Warren Grantz

Imperial Army

Colonel Erich von Lehrgen

Brigadier General Hans von Zettour

Doktor Adelheid von Schugel

Antagonists

Being X

Colonel Anson Sue

Severin Vianto

Second Lieutenant/Warrant Officer Mary Sue

Brigadier General Lavrentiy "Loliya" Beria

Alternative Title(s): Youjo Senki, Saga Of Tanya The Evil

Previous

Index

Next