History Characters / FugaMelodiesOfSteel

* ChildSoldier: In effect, these were what the hybrids they created were supposed to be-- tailor-made youths designed to pilot weapons of mass destruction, [[spoiler:although most of them died during Crusade's experiments, and all others lost their lives on the battlefield. The one exception, Jihl, was instead used as a constant fuel source for the Soul Cannon, and [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil did not turn out well]] as a result of it.]]

* {{Foil}}: He has plenty of similarities with the three antagonistic hybrids of ''VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter''. He's similar to Baion in that he was created prior to the Reset, though he's more akin to Nero and Blanck in terms of his physical age and psychological behavior, along with how he was designed to pilot a super-weapon like they were. Unlike all three of them, however, [[spoiler:he was created by an anti-Juno organization rather than for the purpose of reviving and using Juno]], and he's motivated to follow his own desires rather than work for the sake of a goal or a superior. Whereas Baion's entire plan [[spoiler:was encouraged by [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife a need to fulfill some kind of function]] as a tool of Juno, and whereas Nero and Blanck were designed to work as "sentient tools" for that plan, Jihl's own experiences of being a "sentient tool" have made him incredibly bitter and vengeful.]]

** He also shares a fair number of traits with [[VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter Bruno]], but one key difference is the source of their motivation; Bruno is seemingly motivated by nothing more than a desire to TakeOverTheWorld and [[ForTheEvulz attain power purely for the sake of it]], but Hax is motivated by PatrioticFervor and does everything that he does not just for his own personal gain, but for what he believes is for the sake of the Berman Empire. Because of this, Hax doesn't even bother trying to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity like Bruno, since he truly believes what he's doing is righteous and is aided mostly by [[MyCountryRightOrWrong subordinates who feel the same]]. Another thing that separates him from Bruno is that [[spoiler:while both of them achieve a OneWingedAngel form when controlling a Titano-Machina, Hax merely gains a blue-veined appearance while Bruno becomes a hulking monstrosity.]] %%Contrast with Baion?

* FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler:He was an artificial person created for piloting the Belenos and later used to fuel the Soul Cannon without dying. Of course, this not only involved constant experimentations and abuse since the moment he was born, but testing this required him going through the agonizing pain of the Soul Cannon using him as fuel over and over again. It's also possible that his earlier FantasticRacism towards the Caninu and Felineko is him projecting how he was treated by most of Crusade as an [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman experiment]] rather than a person.]]

* MeaningfulName: One that arguably has a bit of GallowsHumor attached to it. Jihl's namesake of UsefulNotes/GillesDeRais was a comrade of UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc, but is also remembered as one of the biggest {{Fallen Hero}}es in history and a devout follower of the occult; it's said that following Joan of Arc's death, he began to sexually violate and murder many children as sacrifices for a demon named "Barron". Jihl's first few actions in the story involve mind-controlling the captured children to keep them around as Soul Cannon "bullets".

* MeaningfulName: Her name may be a play on ''hana'' (花), the Japanese word for "flower", as fitting her kind and sweet personality, along with the numerous other references to flowers included throughout the game.[[note]]Such as the lyrics to "Flower on the Trails" or "Elegy of Winds", which both indirectly reference the children as "petals" or "flowers".[[/note]] Additionally, "Hanna" is derived from the Hebrew name "Hanna", which means "gracious" or "merciful", as befitting her AllLovingHeroine nature.

* MeaningfulName: Her name may be a play on ''hana'' (花), the Japanese word for "flower", as fitting her kind and sweet personality, along with the numerous other references to flowers included throughout the game.[[note]]Such as the lyrics to "Flower on the Trails" or "Elegy of Winds", which both indirectly reference the children as "petals" or "flowers".[[/note]]

* CharacterDevelopment: Begins opening up to his friends more over the course of the story.

* PunnyName: It's obvious why they're called the "Berman Army"... they're made up of Do'''berman''' Pinchers.

* NumberTwo: To Supreme Commander Merlot.

* MeaningfulName: Regarding their robots.

* MindControl: In the second game, he uses his extrasensory abilities to inflict this on the children trapped aboard the Taranis, forcing them into a hypnotized state of sorts so that they can man the cannons against their friends coming to save them on the Tarascus.
* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: As Jeanne's alleged "counterpart", his name seems to reference UsefulNotes/GillesDeRais, a comrade of Joan of Arc.[[invoked]][[WordOfGod Localization director Till Stiehl and creative director Yoann Gueritot]] have confirmed this was the case in a Twitter thread:

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: A minor example. During the FinalBoss, [[spoiler:Cayenne proclaims in a rant that the Berman Empire needs to be destroyed in order to ensure permanent peace to the world. This prompts Hax to speak up and tell Cayenne that, as the AI copy of the man who led the Gasco Invasion, he can affirm that there is nothing undermining the current peace between Gasco and Berman. Cayenne, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope having already gone far off the deep end]], isn't dissuaded by this sentiment. Instead, he takes the fact that Hax is here ''at all'' as proof that his revenge is truly righteous and being guided by a divine hand, and exults in the idea of personally taking out the man responsible for the death of his family.]]

* MeaningfulName: The tank was named after the [[Myth/CelticMythology Celtic god of thunder]] worshipped by the Gauls (and later Joan of Arc), of whom archeological evidence suggests was often associated with wheels and foul weather, but was nevertheless viewed as a protective leader figure of the Celtic pantheon-- and indeed, the tank protects the children while being a formidable force against the Berman Army. Some (disputed) Roman accounts of the god Taranis have however claimed that the original Taranis desired living sacrifices, which still fits the tank considering [[PoweredByAForsakenChild what the Soul Cannon does]].

* FamilyThemeNaming: Britz and his father Spritz both have first names that end in "-ritz". Britz's sister is also named "Frita", only one letter off from "fritz". In the Japanese version, a Berman Report reveals his mother's name to be "Linza" (the Old German form of Linda), showing that Britz and both his parents have names with a "Z" in them.

** He also shares a fair number of traits with [[VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter Bruno]], but one key difference is the source of their motivation; Bruno is seemingly motivated by nothing more than a desire to TakeOverTheWorld and [[ForTheEvulz attain power purely for the sake of it]], but Hax is motivated by PatrioticFervor and does everything that he does not just for his own personal gain, but for what he believes is for the sake of the Berman Empire. Because of this, Hax doesn't even bother trying to be a VillainWithGoodPublicity like Bruno, since he truly believes what he's doing is righteous and is aided mostly by [[MyCountryRightOrWrong subordinates who feel the same]]. Another thing that separates him from Bruno is that [[spoiler:he ''succeeds'' in gaining control of a Titano-Machina through using the Tarascus to reawaken and become one with the Vanargand, whereas Bruno failed to do so and seemingly had his life force consumed back into Lares.]] %%Contrast with Baion?

* TheLoad: Subverted, while he does often view himself as this trope, his friends are very quick to rebuke that claim, claiming his friendly personality helps keep spirits high, his role in manning a cannon isn't taken for granted, and it's heavily implied he's in charge of maintaining the Taranis' built-in farm.

* ContrastingReplacementCharacter: As the life force of the Taranis ran out and took the energy keeping Jeanne active with it, Hax takes over the role of MissionControl the Tarascus and its Exo-Taranis fusion. Backstory-wise, both are {{Artificial Intelligence}}s integrated into the power source of their respective tanks, but the original Jeanne was an AI created from scratch and later integrated into the Taranis as a control mechanism, whereas Hax is an AI copy of the first game's BigBad that was created by accident when his namesake and the Tarascus were originally defeated. Jeanne kept her identity a secret from the children up until the first game's climax (where it was revealed that she was PlayingBothSides of the conflict), whereas Hax makes it clear who and what he is from the moment the second game begins (and has no ulterior motives whatsoever). Funnily enough, Hax is more actively cold and logical than Jeanne was-- whereas Jeanne preyed on the children's emotions and desperation and goaded them into using the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Soul Cannon]] when [[GodzillaThreshold in a tight situation]], Hax prefers to be more direct and matter-of-fact to the children, and takes on a far more hands-on approach to the Soul Cannon by [[GoodIsNotNice personally selecting a child to power it]].

* AmbiguousSituation: His second journal entry states that he was originally going to assist in Gasco's reconstruction act as a representative for all those who lost their loved ones during the war, with him remarking that "[his] calling as a teacher is to inform Vanilla of the pain of such tremendous loss". It's unknown if this is a DeadlyEuphemism or if he genuinely wanted to take this course of action [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope before something inside him snapped]], but either way, his murder of Shayne and Jelly came soon after.
* BeyondRedemption: In contrast to how Jihl can be impacted by the [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight Awakening Chance mechanic]] during both fights with him on the Belenos, Cayenne's fights entirely omit the mechanic, showing that he isn't as receptive to reason. In-story, his plans are more calculated and deliberate compared to how Jihl's villainy is ultimately misguided, with the kids finding him to be even more reprehensible as a result.

* ChekhovsGunman: He's first mentioned in entries of Shayne's Journal unlocked by progressing through the second game, long before he makes a physical appearance. Jihl is also shown to be in contact with an "eavesdropping brat" at several points before the big reveal.

* {{Foil}}: Cayenne, Jihl, and Malt are all motivated by vengeance during the second game's story, to the point that they all make self-destructive decisions in pursuit of it. However, even at his most Resolute, Malt has enough Empathy to listen to his friends at his lowest points, and they're able to convince Jihl to abandon his own vengeance by showing him that some people truly care about him. Cayenne, in comparison, was too resolute to listen to reason, interpreting the empathy of his best friend as a betrayal and then using the Muscats as pawns for his genocidal plans.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse:

* KickTheDog: The main thing that prevents him from being truly sympathetic is that he ''delights'' in subjecting the children of the Taranis to psychological torment. He gloats to Vanilla about masquerading as her father (the poor girl nearly [[StressVomit throws up]] in response), and mockingly calls the rest of the kids "noble heroes" before blasting them with the Belenos. When it's shown that the kids may need to shoot the Belenos with the Soul Cannon to stop the Vanargand, Cayenne exposes the Belenos to gloat about how they'd kill Jihl and Hanna as a result.

* KnightOfCerebus: Within the first three chapters of the second game, he's responsible for the deaths of [[spoiler:President Muscat and Hanna]]. Malt, who managed to remain an idealist when dealing with the Berman Army's atrocities, becomes jaded and vengeance-driven in response.

* DetrimentalDetermination: While a dedication to always "see things through to the end" is beneficial for the likes of one [[VideoGame/SolatoroboRedTheHunter Red Savarin]], a large amount of Jihl's problems come from his inability to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm know when to quit]] or otherwise let go of the past. Most notably, his past of being constantly experimented on by the organization that created him has led him to hold a grudge against the world, in spite of how the scientists responsible for his suffering (along with the entirety of the original human species) have all been dead for thousands of years by the time he wakes up. After Jihl commandeers the Belenos as a means to enact said revenge, it begins to put a ''monstrous'' level of physical and psychological strain on him-- with him outright comparing it to the torture he felt during the experimentation he was subjected to through in the past-- but he still presses on despite this. [[spoiler:Even when Jihl gives up on his desire for revenge, he's still bent on restoring the Belenos to full capacity, both to restore Hanna back to life and to hopefully find a way to fairly "settle the score" with the children of the Taranis, despite Hanna herself warning him that the risks involved are too dangerous. Jihl refuses to listen to her, and as a result, he ends up fully assimilated into the completed Belenos' makeup and used as an UnwittingPawn by Cayenne.]]

* AdorablyPrecociousChild: Both of them have traits of this, such as [[https://twitter.com/shimipan/status/1421053080716541959 playing word letter as a pastime]] together.

* SourOutsideSadInside: In addition to being the most angry at Bermans he can also be harsh with other childen, often telling them to work harder if they don't want to die - however he does it not out of general pushiness but because [[AngerBornOfWorry he cares for them and does not want to see them die as well]]. He's also much more affected by losing his parents than he lets on but he bottles it all in.

* PsychopathicManchild: [[spoiler:His obsession with reviving the Vanargand all stems from the fairy tales about "the Lost God" his grandmother told him about as a child. Even as an adult, he held on to the feeling that the "Lost God" was real, and was all too eager to believe the Radio Woman when she confirmed its existence. Personality-wise, he's generally collected despite his egotism, though he's heavily implied to be in control of the Vanargand when it tears apart Gasco for [[EvilIsPetty seemingly no reason]], and he suffers a textbook VillainousBreakdown when he begins losing to the Taranis.]]