Warning, Divine Flame folder contains uncovered spoilers for the main series.
open/close all folders
Makai Knights and Alchemists
León Luis (GARO the Golden Knight)
The main protagonist and the current title-holder of GARO.
- Alliterative Name: León Luis.
- Anime Hair
- Anti-Hero: Deconstructed. He's solely motivated by avenging his dead mother and little else. He has to become a legitimate Hero in order to be worthy of wielding GARO, and he even loses it for a while. He gets better, though.
- Badass Longcoat: As to be expected of a GARO protagonist.
- Broken Pedestal: Alphonso originally thought Leon would be like the Golden Knight in the legends. He later learns he's wrong.
- Chick Magnet: And he's incredibly bitter about it. Also particularly hilarious considering he's incredibly awkward around women.
- Driven to Suicide: After losing GARO to Alfonso, León loses all will to live and throws himself off a cliff. He survives and was taken in by a farming family.
- Expy: León is heavily reminiscent of Kouga Saejima with a mix of Ryuga Dougai's status as beginner.
- Fallen Hero: Became this in episode 12. After Mendoza's Mind Rape, he went absolutely berserk and destroyed half of Santa Bard.
- Good Counterpart: After regaining GARO he becomes this to Bernardo, Octavia, and Mendoza. Like them, he suffers a great personal tragedy, but while the villains use their tragic back-stories as cop-outs and excuses to justify their villainous actions Leon uses his loss to rebuild himself and as a resolve to never let anyone suffer like he has while he has the power to make a difference.
- He's Back!: Leon regains GARO in Episode 18
- Inadequate Inheritor: Leon proves himself to be unworthy of GARO's mantle at the mid point of the show and Alphonso takes the mantle. This is subverted after during the final arc where Leon cleans up his act and Alphonso returns the title to him.
- Kid Hero: He's only 17.
- Knight Errant: He and Germán travelled from town to town hunting horrors and training.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Courtesy of his Oedipus Complex and sheltered upbringing, he's got an unhealthy habit of pedestalising women (especially mothers) and is scared of and uncomfortable with female sexuality. Needless to say, this makes it very difficult to deal with his Sexy Mentor Ema.
- Likes Older Women: León usually reacts to Ema's teasing as one might expect, but episode 19 ends with the two locked in a passionate kiss on Ema's bed.
- Perpetual Frowner: See that image there? That's him on a good day.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red to Alfonso Blue. As stated, Leon is driven by vengeance and also he is still the most emotionally volatile.
- Scarf of Asskicking: And it's actually useful in battle!
- Scars Are Forever: Shown to have a good number of scars on his back and chest during his Shirtless Scene.
- Superpowered Evil Side: As always, LOST SOUL GARO.
- Tsundere: Towards his dad.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: His dynamic with German, pretty much.
- When He Smiles: After he meets Lara, he starts to genuinely smile and laugh more.
Germán Luis (ZORO the Shadow Slashing Knight)
León's philandering, spendthrift father and current holder of ZORO.
Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), David Wald (English)
- Back from the Dead: Temporarily brought back by Garm in the sequel movie. Also counts as:
- Resurrected for a Job: Was revived in the event the Big Bad of the movie's Evil Plan succeeded, they'd need someone to make a Heroic Sacrifice to shut it down.
- Bumbling Dad: Surprisingly, Played for Drama. León would probably not be as screwed up as he is if Germán were a much more competent father.
- The Atoner: It's hinted that the reason he's being such a Papa Wolf to Roberto is to make up for being a Bumbling Dad to León.
- Chivalrous Pervert: It's not just his good looks that are responsible for his impressive luck with the ladies - he's a perfect gentleman who always tries to ensure that they have as much fun as he does.
- Cool Uncle: To Alfonso, after it turns out he's Alfonso's uncle.
- Dual Wielding: Wields two short swords in battle.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Germán loves the ladies, and the ladies love Germán.
- Expy: Is a Spanish and older version of Takeru Jakuzure with Rei Suzumura's armor.
- Gag Penis: In episode 8, just about every lady who catches a glimpse of his family jewels is struck by a mix of embarrassment and awe.
- Killed Off for Real: Killed after his first time with Ximena.
- Ladykiller in Love: Is absolutely struck by Ximena.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: As lecherous and silly as he is, he is absolutely deadly in a fight.
- Lightning Bruiser: He is easily the most agile of the Makai Knights featured, and packs quite a hefty punch as well.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Again, just like Takeru/ZEN, Germán spends quite a lot of screentime sleeping around with prostitutes, and is quite cheerful about it. It's Played for Laughs.
- Mr. Fanservice: So, so many shirtless scenes.
- Naked People Are Funny: Whenever his comedic value needs to rise German loses his clothes.
- Papa Wolf: Not towards Leon himself but to his youngest son, Roberto, whom he defies Garm's orders for in order to mount a rescue mission.
- Posthumous Character: After his death, he appears for one last scene during Leon's brief visit to Makai in the finale.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: His dynamic with Leon, pretty much.
Alfonso St. Valiante (GAIA the Stronghold Knight) Temporarily, GARO the Golden Knight
The prince of Valiante and León's cousin. He was forced to go into hiding when Mendoza overthrowed the King, when he discovered he had Makai blood. He's the current title-holder of GAIA.
Voiced by: Katsuhito Nomura (Japanese), Justin Briner (English)
- The Ace: To contrast Leon. Alphonso is handsome, psychologically stable, just, fair, gallant, has a loving family, and becomes an extremely powerful Makai Knight after only a few weeks of training.
- All-Loving Hero
- Badass Cape: Wears one both as part of his regular outfit and also as GAIA.
- Scarf of Asskicking: wears one in the movie.
- Berserk Button: Do not harm Santa Bard or its people. León got some really harsh words after going on a rampage as LOST SOUL GARO, but he was absolutely furious when he heard about Garm's plan to sacrifice Variante in order to get rid of most Horrors.
- Clueless Chick-Magnet: The ladies absolutely swoon over him. Not that he knows.
- Foil: To León. See Knight in Shining Armor below.
- Good Is Not Soft: Alphonso is an Ideal Hero but that doesn't mean he's stupid. If you hurt his subjects expect a just punishment to come your way.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold
- Knight in Shining Armor: Unlike León, he is motivated by his will to protect Valiante and its people. It's also why, after León's fall, he was deemed worthy of GARO.
- Modest Royalty: He wears clothes not very different than that of the common peasant, and despises the lavish banquets, ceremonies and formalities of royalty.
- Nice Guy: The most outwardly nice member of the cast, bar none.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Upon learning that his mother was Driven to Suicide, Alfonso wonders this about himself and Leon. Note that this is after he had furiously branded Leon a traitor for destroying half the city.
- The Purge: A heroic example. After becoming the Prince Regent he starts a campaign to clean up his kingdom exterminating all of the left over Horrors.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Becomes this as the Prince Regent.
- Rebel Prince: Prince Alfonso becomes a variant when the High Priest takes control of the kingdom.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Leon Red. As he is more deliberate and calmer to his approach. Alfonso is the most reasonable character.
- Replacement Goldfish: While training under him Rafeal begins to see him as the spitting image of his dead son.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: While Alfonso was too young to realize what Mendoza was doing or stop him, when he grows up it becomes clear that he cares more for his people than he does maintaining absolute power. In episode 13, this is further expanded with him being a hands-on Prince Regent, rehabilitating Santa Bard after the fire, while walking the streets as GARO by night.
- Took a Level in Badass: After acquiring GARO.
- Universally Beloved Leader: As a competent, caring prince all of his subjects love him.
Ema Guzmán
Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese), Monica Rial (English)
- Action Girl: Every Garo series has a female Makai Priest who exists to wreck face alongside the Knights, and she's a particularly impressive example.
- Badass Longcoat: She uses it to carry her weapons and alchemical supplies.
- But Now I Must Go: After Mendoza's defeat in the finale, she leaves Santa Bard for good. Although she returns in the sequel movie to help out the guys in stopping a new threat... Then leaves again at the end.
- Cool Big Sis: Her relationship with Leon is hard to define, but mostly averages out at this... until their Relationship Upgrade, at least.
- Crusading Widow: She's got a mad-on for Horrors because, to all intents and purposes, one of them did a Kill and Replace on her husband (because becoming a Horror is irreversible and results in a drastic personality shift).
- Femme Fatale: A subversion. She has the looks and mannerisms, but no (dangerous) ulterior motives, and she's nothing but helpful to the Knights.
- Improbable Weapon User: A Grappling-Hook Pistol that fires Razor Floss.
- Interservice Rivalry: In the old Makai Order, the Knights had a bad habit of looking down on their Alchemist support staff, and while none of the Knights in the present day engage in that sort of thing (not least because they need all the help they can get), she's still got a chip on her shoulder about it.
- Parental Substitute: Can stray into being something of a surrogate mother for León. Naturally, this combined with her constant flirting plays merry hell with his Oedipus Complex.
- Razor Floss: And it can be electrified!
- Sexy Mentor: To Leon, whose Madonna-Whore Complex makes him completely incapable of handling it.
Rafael Banderas (GAIA the Stronghold Knight)
Voiced by: Hidetaka Tenjin (Japanese), Ben Bryant (English)
- Dying to Be Replaced: To be fair, he was already dying.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Because he was dying in the first place, he made a suicide attack on the chimaera.
- Incurable Cough of Death: He's dying of... something. It resembles tuberculosis with exaggerated symptoms, but no concrete answers were given in the show itself.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: His death and Passing the Torch to Alfonso.
- Long-Lost Relative: He's Alfonso's long lost uncle, which makes the former a viable candidate for GAIA.
- Mighty Glacier: Downplayed. While he can run, his fighting style is noticeably slower paced, preferring to get into a fighting stance and stay in one place while trying to hit his opponent.
- Passing the Torch: He grants GAIA to Alfonso after his Heroic Sacrifice.
- Posthumous Character: Appears for one last scene in the finale to motivate Alfonso to keep fighting.
- Sacrificial Lion: He's killed during the battle with the chimaera.
Anna
Voiced by: Eri Oozeki (Japanese), Anastasia Muñoz (English)
- Burn the Witch!: How she's killed at the very beginning of the series.
- Death by Childbirth: Despite being burnt at the stake, it was giving birth to León (and using magic to protect him) what did her in.
- Death by Origin Story: She dies in the first minute of the series.
- Ms. Fanservice: Very much so in Germán and Bernardo's flashbacks.
- The Pollyanna: Never once she lost her faith in humanity, not even at her execution.
- Posthumous Character: Appears during León's visit to Makai in the finale.
Mendoza and company
Mendoza
Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Japanese), Vic Mignogna (English)
- Big Bad
- Blood Magic: Mendoza's Horror-controlling Madougu, which is powered by the blood of humans. It was for this reason that the Makai excommunicated him.
- Complete Immortality: Once he becomes the Ultimate Life Form. The heroes only defeat him by turning it against him, as his infinite regeneration makes him an infinite source of fuel for Anna’s holy fire and he’s locked into an eternal Fate Worse than Death.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Mendoza's quite-abrupt death by being swallowed by a Horror he himself summoned, which was then swiftly dispatched by Alfonso wearing GARO. Even German notes how underwhelming an end it was for him. However, it turns out that Mendoza is Not Quite Dead.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In the early episodes Mendoza acted like a Dastardly Whiplash Smug Snake easily losing his cool and suffered from Didn't See That Coming a lot. By the mid point of the show he has Nerves of Steel and is always one step ahead of our heroes as The Chess Master.
- Enemy Summoner: Almost all the Horrors in Valiante were summoned by him and the most powerful act as his bodyguards.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Has the deepest voice in the cast, courtesy of Takaya Hashi.
- Fallen Hero: See Freudian Excuse below.
- Fate Worse than Death: Specifically, to be burned over and over for all of eternity by Anna.
- Freudian Excuse: He was a Makai Alchemist who used blood experiments (it's shown that several people were bled dry for those) to create a way to control horrors, which he believed the Knights should have used to seize power. For this, he was excommunicated, and given a Mark of Shame that would be passed down his bloodline, to prevent future knights or alchemists from ever going near his descendants. He befriended the king of Variante and made a new life for himself, but when his wife gave birth to a marked child, he killed them both and swore to wipe out the Makai bloodlines in revenge.
- Hijacking Cthulhu: His Evil Plan in the second half of the series is to summon Anima, a gigantic super-Horror with godlike power, so he can steal its strength for himself. It works perfectly - Anima never even stands a chance, and the heroes now have to deal with their deadliest foe transformed into an immortal supreme being.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Is left to burn repeatedly for all of eternity in the final episode by Anna, the very same person he himself had burned to death in the very first episode.
- Mind Rape: Used a spell to show Leon how his mother's death really went causing Leon to react badly to his idealized image of his mother being shattered causing him to become LOST SOUL GARO.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Downplayed. While Mendoza shows some martial skill and is a skilled alchemist he's no match for the Knights or Ema in combat. He uses Horrors, emotional manipulation, and magic to fight them.
- This is completely averted once he absorbs Anima's power in the finale.
- Ultimate Life Form: Once he absorbs Anima's power in the finale.
- Villainous Underdog: Becomes this in the second half, after Alfonso takes his country back and Mendoza himself is physically crippled and forced into hiding. Most of the plot consists of him putting together a near-suicidally reckless plan to turn things around. It works, and he becomes the exact opposite of an underdog.
- Would Hurt a Child: Threw his own infant child off a cliff to his or her's death when he saw that the baby had inherited his Mark of Shame.
The Black Knight, Bernardo Dión (ZEX the Dark Knight)
Click here to see his human form (Spoilers!).
Mendoza's right hand man and leader of the Black Knights, a mysterious platoon of soldiers clad in pitch-black armors who are pretty much Horrors in knight form.
Voiced by: Hiroshi Yanaka (Japanese), Ivan Jasso (English)
- A Death in the Limelight: Episode 11 focuses largely on his backstory and Start of Darkness as a Fallen Hero. Incidentally, he's exterminated in that very same episode.
- The Dreaded: As the leader of the Black Knight Corps.
- Dying as Yourself: When he's about to die, he forgets everything that happened after coming into contact with it and passes on as he was before turning to the dark side.
- Evil Is Bigger: His armor is noticeably bulkier than that of ZORO or GARO.
- Expy: He is pretty much KIBA/Barago, down to the armor and, to a lesser extent, backstory. His being a Makai Knight unwittingly corrupted, however, borrows more from Sonshi.
- Fallen Hero: He as Makai Knight and a personal friend of Germán and Anna. He turned to evil after he lost faith in humanity during The Purge that killed most Makai Alchemists and Knights.
- Foil: For León, in a sense. Both were driven by revenge and bitterness, and had a fixation for the same woman, no less. But while Bernardo turned to evil, León learned from his tragedy and eventually became a straight-up hero.
- The Heavy: Because Mendoza is something of a Non-Action Big Bad, he's the one who actually goes and tries to fight our heroes during the first half of the story.
- Hopeless Suitor: It's implied he was in love with Anna, who was already in love with Germán, and this was part of what led to his fall.
- Meaningful Rename: Before he was corrupted he was know as ZEX the Cunning Knight, however after his fall he was retitled ZEX the Dark Knight.
- More than Mind Control: He was working for Mendoza under the influence of one of his dark Makai Artifacts, which amplified his doubts about protecting humans.
- Red Baron: For most of his screentime, he's only referred to as The Black Knight.
- The Rival: Used to be this for Germán.
- Walking Spoiler: Just look at how many of his tropes are spoilered!
- We Used to Be Friends: Well, more like Friendly Rival, but he used to be very close to Germán and Anna before his Start of Darkness.
Octavia:
Voiced by: Mari Doi (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: To the royal family, pretending to be a caring attendant while secretly helping Mendoza take over the kingdom.
- Freudian Excuse: She was raised to believe that God would solve all of her families problems, only to be forced to watch her entire family be slaughtered by wolves while the townsfolk were too cowardly to save them. This caused her to lose her faith in God and begin to believe in Mendoza's nihilistic ideals.
- Killed Off for Real
- Pet the Dog: In episode 20, she is shown to have a friendly relationship with a fellow castle maid and seems genuinely upset that she had to kill her to maintain her cover.
- Yandere
Civilians
Lara
Voiced by: Madoka Aiba (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English)
- Eating the Eye Candy: When she offers to wash Leon's back, she finds herself staring at his shirtless body a bit too long.
- Expy: Of Kaoru Mitsuki.
- Farmer's Daughter
- Genki Girl
- Hero's Muse: A bizarre posthumous example. It was Lara's death what inspired León to fight Horrors again as a protector, not as a means to get revenge.
- Kill the Cutie: The burning debris of her house falls on her, crushing her. She lives for some minutes to tell Leon her Last Words though.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: The light to Ema's dark.
- Lost Lenore: For Leon in the movie.
- Nice Girl
- The Pollyanna: No amount of poverty, debt or uncertain future will ever rob Lara of her good humour and optimism.
- Skewed Priorities: When Lara's house is attacked by the Monster of the Week, Leon advices her and her family to run away to a certain tree where a barrier against Horrors is. However, Lara's grandfather disobeys the orders because he wants to save his harvest first, so he and his family return to the burning house. Lara's family is burned alive by the monster and the burning house falls on her.
Ximena Coronado
Voiced by: Yumi Sudo (Japanese), Jad Saxton (English)
- Ascended Extra: Appeared for a few minutes in the first cour as a random woman struck by Germán's looks. She later gets promoted to a secondary role in the second cour and later gets a full Relationship Upgrade with Germán.
- Cannot Spit It Out: She cannot bring herself to express her love for Germán. Until their Relation Ship Upgrade, at least.
- Nice Girl: There is not one mean bone in her body.
- Relationship Upgrade: With Germán. And it gets her pregnant!
- Someone to Remember Him By: In the finale, it's revealed Germán got her pregnant with his second son, Roberto.
- Tsundere: A slight Type B. Even German's womanizing ways can annoy Ximena.
Others
Garm
Voiced by: Mayu Udono (Japanese), Tia Ballard (English)
The Watchdog of Valiante, making her the boss of León, Germán, and Alfonso
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Implied that her youthful appearance and voice is the front to something considerably less so.
- Older Than They Look
- Sweet Tooth: Always seen munching on candy or snacks.
Zaruba
Voiced by: Hironobu Kageyama (Japanese), Barry Yandell (English)
The Madou Ring that acts as an assist of GARO.
- Animate Inanimate Object: Like in the live action series, also falls into Snarky Inanimate Object.
- Legacy Character
- Magic Ring
Characters from Garo: Divine Flame
Roberto
Voiced by: Miyu Tomita (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)
Germán's son with Ximena, making him León's half-brother, who will someday inherit the armor of Zoro.
- Distressed Dude: Kidnapped near the beginning to be used for the Big Bad's Evil Plan.
- Kid Hero: Only 4, and already training to inherit his father's armor
- Took A Level In Bad Ass: Figuratively only, but goes from being a crybaby who'd rather fish than train, to a child eager to inherit his father's armor.
Dario Montoya (ZEM the Obsidian Knight)
Voiced by: Masato Hagiwara (Japanese), Omar Padilla (English)
A blindfolded, spear wielding Makai Knight, who is also one of the major villains of the movie, a fallen Makai Knight intent on sacrificing Roberto to revive a woman he loved that became the host of the Horror Nigra Venus.
- Eaten Alive: By Nigra Venus, allowing it to become Sir Venus.
- Evil Make Over: After revealing his true colors, his armor changes to a more menacing appearance and gains purple highlights.
- Fallen Hero
- Handicapped Bad Ass: Blind and is able to fight three Makai Knights singlehandedly.
- Eye Scream: Stabbed them out because Sara didn't want him to see her disfigured face.
- Love Makes You Evil: And really crazy too.
- Walking Spoiler
Nigra Venus / Princess Sara / Sir Venus
Voiced by: Arisa Komiya (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)
Described as the Most Beautiful Horror in the World. Taking the form of a woman, she steals the life of men, and eats the faces of beautiful women. Garm assigns León and Alfonso the mission to destroy it, as it has already killed two Makai Knights. Its host is the corpse of Sara, a Princess who was considered the World's Most Beautiful Woman and Dario's lover. She went mad after her face was disfigured by an attacking Horror; eventually committing suicide. Dario's Evil Plan is to sacrifice Roberto in order to revive her.
- An Ice Person: Kills men by freezing them from the inside out with a kiss.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Tragically subverted.
- Body Horror
- Kiss of Death: Delivers this to her male victims.
- Tear Off Your Face: What she does to her female victims.
