Characters / Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ZAFT

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Character Index
SEED Main Characters | SEED Destiny Main Characters
Factions: Three Ship Alliance/Terminal/Compass | Earth Alliance | ZAFT | Orb Union | Kingdom of Foundation
Others: Other factions and characters

Spoilers for all previous Gundam entries in the Cosmic Era continuity, including Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, will be left unmarked.

People Liberation Acting Nation of Technology

PLANT is the official nation of the 120 PLANT Colonies located at Lagrange Point 5. Its government is led by the PLANT Supreme Council, whose members were each elected from one of the twelve Colony groups. The nation’s capital is Aprilius One, in honor of the first Coordinator George Glenn. The nation’s military is ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty), an organization composed of volunteer soldiers.

PLANT Supreme Council

Council members at the time of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

Patrick Zala

Voiced by: Kinryū Arimoto (Japanese); Andrew Kavadas [Ocean dub], Marc Diraison [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"We Coordinators are very different. We should view ourselves as a completely new species. There's no reason to coexist with Naturals."

Athrun's father, Patrick Zala was one of the founding members of ZAFT alongside Siegel Clyne in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. At the beginning of the series, he's the PLANT Supreme Council representative for December City and Defense Committee Chairman, overseeing the Coordinator armed forces. Patrick is a stoic but driven man, throwing himself into the execution of the war to the exclusion of all else — including his son. Patrick's fanaticism comes from the loss of his wife Lenore in the Bloody Valentine tragedy, which has left him with a deep-seated hatred of Naturals. He believes that Coordinators are a new species, distinct from (and superior to) Naturals.

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• Abusive Parent: In the second half of SEED, he shoots Athrun and tries arresting him.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Athrun by the end of SEED. Patrick deciding to personally shoot and wound an insubordinate Athrun and only order him left him alive for interrogation is what gets his son to realize they're irreconcilable and eventually almost drives him to make a Heroic Sacrifice to stop Patrick's GENESIS.
• Alas, Poor Villain: It's possible to feel some pathos for Patrick as he dies, unable to let go of his hate and fear even in the end.
• Bad Boss: Don't question Patrick's orders. It won't end well. In fact, don't talk back to him at all.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's the leader of ZAFT and appears to be in a Big Bad Ensemble opposite Blue Cosmos leader, Muruta Azrael, but they're actually Rau Le Creuset's Unwitting Pawns.
• Blood from the Mouth: After being shot in the back.
• Broken Pedestal: Athrun is initially shown to respect and be somewhat in awe of Patrick, despite (and possibly due to) having lived apart from him from the age of about 6 to 13, and given Patrick is his only surviving parent. However, the pedestal is eventually shattered when Athrun learns about the full extent of his murderous and genocidal plans and takes a bullet from him in the process.
• Casting Gag: Arimoto played the angry pacifist dad Mr. Winner in an episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, including asking "When have I ever acted as a dictator!?", in a role that was likely the source for Lord Uzumi. Here, he gives a master class in "How Definitely Not To Treat Your Only Son After His Mother Dies", with piles of weapons, stolen weapons, secret weapons, and super weapons thrown in. Athrun even calls him the rarer and extremely formal chichi-ue, as Quatre did in the prior part, just to drive the point home.
• Cycle of Revenge: Throws himself into the war effort because of a nuclear attack that killed his wife, only to ultimately become desperate enough to order construction of technology to undo anti-nuclear defenses and create a gigantic nuclear-powered doomsday weapon.
• Fantastic Racism: He really hates Naturals.
• Final Solution: He intends to fire GENESIS at Earth at the end of SEED, wiping out all the Naturals.
• Foil: Against his former Best Friend, the much calmer and more pragmatic Nice Guy Siegel Clyne.
• Founder of the Kingdom: He started ZAFT as a political organization with Siegel Clyne and helped establish PLANT's breakaway.
• General Ripper: This is what happens when one of them becomes Supreme Council Chairman. Ironically, Patrick was less bloodthirsty and somewhat saner when he was just Defense Committee Chairman/in charge of ZAFT.
• The Generalissimo: He continues to appear in his uniform as Chairman, and effectively transforms PLANT into a military dictatorship, using the army to suppress all dissent.
• Glorious Leader: He becomes closer and closer to the archetype as SEED progresses and he becomes convinced that only he can save his people.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: When his Bad Boss tendencies backfire on him. He shoots one of his underlings for questioning his orders. Said underling, wounded but alive, draws his own sidearm and kills Zala with it.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Patrick is shown to be generally terrible in his assessments of people. :Mainly with Rau, whose Unwitting Pawn and tool for destruction he is without ever having the slightest clue, but also with Lacus, whom he dismisses throughout the show as either Athrun's fiancée or "that little girl", without once realizing that she and his son aren't suited or how damaging and effective she is. He puts Andrew Waltfeld in charge of the new top-secret ship Eternal; Waltfeld promptly helps Lacus steal it and Athrun escape. It even extends to Athrun, where Patrick seems to have thought that his son would maintain Undying Loyalty to him regardless of what Patrick did or said. Meanwhile Siegel Clyne, Patrick's Best Friend of decades and the one guy who's desperately trying to get through to him, is the one Patrick holds responsible for Rau's information leaks and Lacus's open thievery and resistance movement, and Patrick has him killed (although it's heavily implied he was going to kill Lacus too, but just for being Siegel's daughter and a supposed OMNI spy, not for what she actually did). The only exception is Ezalia Joule, who is fully loyal to him and their agenda the entire time. Justified in that he is The Paranoiac, which generally doesn't lead to anything other than this trope.
• The Horseshoe Effect: He is just as extreme, hate-filled, and dangerous as Azrael, the anti-Coordinator Natural. This is Lampshaded by Uzumi Nara Athha.
• Hypocrite: He rages at Naturals as barbaric monsters after Blue Cosmos orders a nuclear attack destroys the Boaz space fortress. Hours later he kills thousands of Naturals using the GENESIS cannon and was more than willing to fire it at Earth, which could have potentially wiped out all life on the planet. Furthermore Zala admitted previously that they had developed N-Jammer Canceller technology specifically to use Genesis against Naturals in the first place.
• Insane Admiral: CINC of the army and a genocidal General Ripper.
• In the Back: He's shot from behind by a man he failed to kill.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Like Athrun. Patrick's green eyes and worldview are both much, much darker, however.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: They keep setting you up to think that Patrick's going to show his nice side, only to promptly disappoint you.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: First he runs against, and defeats, his old friend and former political ally for the position of PLANT Supreme Council Chairman. Then he has said friend executed for believed treason. It only gets worse from there.
  • His relationship with Athrun is also marked by this. In his first appearance, Athrun formally addresses him, only for him to advise him to not be so formal. Later, after the failure of Operation Spit Break and the theft of the Freedom, when Athrun calls him "Father", despite them being alone, Patrick's mood is so foul and he's already begun his steep descent into paranoia, he admonishes him for the informality, prompting Athrun to formally address him as "Chairman Zala".
• Knight of Cerebus: What we see of both sides of the war made both of them look sympathetic early in SEED. When Patrick shows up, we start to see both sides are being led by genocidal lunatics who will settle for nothing less than the complete destruction of the other.
• Knight Templar: He genuinely believes that only the most extreme methods can save his race.
• The Lost Lenore: His appropriately named wife was killed in a nuclear attack on Junius 7 a year prior to the start of the series. He is not over it.
• Love Makes You Crazy: He keeps a picture of Lenore and a younger Athrun on his desk while he destroys everything around him in a search to regain some peace, including his relationship with Athrun. Lenore would probably not be pleased by this, to say the least.
• Love Makes You Evil: His Start of Darkness was his wife Lenore's death.
• Master Race: Patrick views Coordinators as a full on Superior Species, and sees the Naturals as deserving only of extermination.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Brags about Coordinators being a Master Race that deserves to rule the world? Plots the genocide of his Natural adversaries? Wins an election and then promptly suspends the democratic process? Why yes, he is a Nazi. Being Gihren Zabi's expy will do that.
• Never My Fault: He blames Lacus and her father for his strategy to end the war failing, because he can't admit that Naturals outsmarted him... or imagine that someone else may be responsible for the betrayals. His pride won't even let him just blame the Naturals themselves.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Of ZAFT ibn SEED. Patrick may be a military man, but he's never in combat, is only ever shown in a command role and fails to do a proper job the one time he tries to kill someone.
• The Paranoiac: From his birth and upbringing as a "hidden" illegal Coordinator in the Atlantic Federation to what we see of him on-screen, everything about Patrick seems to fuel this. From a character only needing three criteria to qualify (and revenge, suspiciousness and being a Jerkass are there from the start), Patrick may hit all seven by the end of the series. Unfortunately, one of the only people he trusts is betraying him, but it's Rau, not Siegel. So much for those secret late-night meetings...
• Perpetual Frowner: More so even than Athrun. In his time on screen Patrick never genuinely smiles. Not even once.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He is basically foaming at the mouth when he talks about the Naturals, and how terrible they are as a whole, and why all of them must pay for the crimes of a handful.
• President Evil: The voters wanted a hardline military leader. They got a genocidal madman.
• Propaganda Machine: He has one that's engaged in a constant battle with Lacus' Voice of the Resistance.
• Putting on the Reich: All of ZAFT does this, but it's most noticeable on Patrick.
• Remember the Alamo: Invokes the Bloody Valentine on multiple occasions to justify his extreme militarism. That he lost his own wife in the attack only lends his arguments more gravitas.
• Rousing Speech: He gives a great one on the anniversary of the Bloody Valentine.
  "Who exploits the Coordinators?!"
• Self-Disposing Villain: He guns down subordinate Ray Yuki at Jachin Due for daring to suggest that obliterating North America is excessive and unnecessary. Yuki then fatally shoots him back before a horrified Athrun arrives with Cagalli just to watch Patrick die.
• Shoulders of Doom: His military uniform has noticeably enlarged epaulets.
• Smug Snake: Fueled by his Fantastic Racism and belief that Coordinators are a Superior Species.
• Start of Darkness: He was Siegel Clyne's Best Friend for two decades prior to Lenore's death at Junius 7.
• Superior Species: He's convinced that Coordinators are far superior to "unevolved" Naturals.
• Unwitting Pawn: Though less of a pawn than most, Rau Le Creuset is using him to help drive humanity to extinction.
• Villain Has a Point: Prior to SEED and at the start of the war, Chairman Clyne already swore to resist the Alliance to the death. When Patrick reminds the Supreme Council members with a Rousing Speech that PLANT was oppressed, then attacked, innocent people died, they need to protect themselves, and they can't do that without fighting, even beleaguered Siegel has nothing to say.
• Villainous Legacy: Patrick's anti-Natural beliefs and actions are still felt in SEED Destiny and SEED Freedom:
  • In SEED Destiny, several former ZAFT soldiers still loyal to him start a Colony Drop of Junius Seven's remains to kickstart the Second Alliance-PLANT War, and Athrun is trying to atone for his father's actions.
  • In SEED Freedom, the PLANT Supreme Council's radical wing, led by Hari Jagannath, ally themselves with Foundation and attempt to overthrow PLANT Supreme Chairman Walter de Lament.
• We Have Reserves: Downplayed in SEED, compared to Azrael, but there are indications during the series that Patrick also possesses this mindset, as Operation Spit Break was already a risky gamble that the council only approved because they didn't know the target was JOSH-A, precisely because the projected casualty rate was considered too high^*Not to mention they had no idea a Cyclops System was installed in the base. Siegel's comments to him, while mostly being about the low birth rate issue, are still also clearly intended to call him out on this. And then there's his decision to fire GENESIS despite ZAFT troops being in the line of fire.
  Siegel: "Patrick! Lives are born into this world! Not manufactured!"
  Patrick: "Don't you see that mindset is grossly outdated?"
• We Used to Be Friends: Foils to Athrun and Kira in SEED, Patrick and Siegel were Best Friends of more than twenty years. This is All There in the Manual because they fall out so fast in the actual show, this is nearly all that remains, and it's because of this that Patrick takes Siegel's perceived "betrayals" so hard that he has him executed.

Siegel Clyne

Voiced by: Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese); Don Brown [Ocean dub], Christopher Sabat [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"You still fail to grasp the underlying truth, Patrick. We [Coordinators] didn't evolve."

Siegel Clyne is Lacus's father. He helped found ZAFT with Patrick Zala, and is the representative from Aprilius City and PLANT Supreme Council Chairman at the beginning of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Leader of the moderate faction of Coordinators, he and his allies believe in coexistence with the Naturals, but they're steadily losing ground to the radical faction that favours all-out war. Eventually voted out of office and replaced by Patrick Zala, he attempts to remain a voice of reason, earning him the enmity of the radicals.

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• Beleaguered Bureaucrat: Unlike Patrick Zala, he's a pure politician, not a soldier. His contribution to the war effort is to try to ride herd on the PLANT Supreme Council's rather quarrelsome members.
• Big Fancy House: He and Lacus reside in one in SEED.
• Cool Old Guy: Unlike Patrick or Ezalia, he’s absolutely not racist and wants both Coordinators and Naturals to coexist.
• Founder of the Kingdom: Of the original ZAFT organization with Patrick Zala and the newly independent PLANT nation.
• The Heart: Of ZAFT by the time of SEED as a whole since he insists on diplomacy, cooperation and rational thinking as opposed to hatred.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Well, as far as harm goes. The execution-style hit put out on him by Patrick is a little too similar to the killing of gangster Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, who is loosely considered the founder of modern Las Vegas. His best friend Meyer Lansky may or may not have been the one who ordered it.
• Noodle Incident: His role in the Freedom theft before the last act of SEED and in the subsequent underground movement against Patrick, given that Lacus is the one shown doing everything.
• Non-Action Guy: Politician, not a soldier.
• Only Sane Man: The main representative of the Supreme Council faction in SEED that realizes how the war is escalating, how costly it has already become, and who are trying to moderate its foreseeable course.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Actually, he swore PLANT would fight the Naturals to the death after the Bloody Valentine. But a year on, he sees what escalating the war will cost the living Coordinators, and he's not interested in Patrick's Final Solution, looking to Take a Third Option and co-exist in peace. He is, after all, the one that Lacus got it from.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: As the leader of the moderate faction, he has a very sound judgment and is willing to listen to his subordinates as well as his daughter.
• The Scapegoat: Patrick blames Siegel for the theft of the Freedom. And has him shot without trial. Although Siegel fled with his daughter, we only see Lacus's part in the matter, and her resistance speeches which only fueled paranoid Patrick's hatred for his "traitorous" best friend more. Siegel's part in everything is quite murky, which makes him very much this trope and probably the Sacrificial Lion too.
• Superior Species: Averted. He's not sure the Coordinators should even be there, and points out their falling birth rates to Patrick. Patrick isn't listening.
• We Used to Be Friends: Siegel is both depressed and eventually angry about the steep decline of his relationship with Patrick, but he's not willing to go along with genocide and not afraid to stand up to Zala about it. It costs him his life.

Ezalia Joule

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese); Alison Matthews [Ocean dub], Cindy Robinson [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Yzak's mother, the Martius City representative in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and a member of Patrick Zala's faction on the Supreme Council, Ezalia is his second-in-command, and is even more ardent than Patrick in her belief that Coordinators are a new, superior species. Proud of her son's military service, Ezalia nevertheless worries about his safety, and can be quite controlling — if well-meaning — in her interactions with Yzak.

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• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Played for Laughs where Ezalia embarrasses Yzak in front of his men (including Dearka) by subtly asking whether he and Shiho are in a relationship yet.
• The Bus Came Back : In SEED Freedom, she returned from being under house arrest after the first war.
• The Cavalry: In SEED Freedom, she leads anti-coup forces the against Hari's coup.
• Demoted to Extra: In SEED, Ezalia serves as Patrick's Number Two on the Supreme Council. In SEED Destiny, she makes her only appearance in an audio drama as a comic relief character.
• Dissonant Serenity: Patrick rants and raves about how the Naturals have to be exterminated. Ezalia takes it as a simple fact.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It's her love for her son Yzak that humanises her and makes her less of a monster than her boss.
• Evil Matriarch: Her status as Yzak's mom is her one redeeming quality. It doesn't make her beliefs or plans a jot less evil, though.
• Fantastic Racism: At times she's scarier than Patrick.
• Final Solution: She fully endorses Patrick's plans for a Natural genocide.
• Foil: To her boss, Patrick Zala in SEED. If not for the way they treat their only sons, they could practically be each others' Spear Counterpart; Patrick treats Athrun purely as a soldier whereas Ezalia still tries to be a mother to Yzak and even occasionally veers into My Beloved Smother territory.
• Good Costume Switch: In an ironic way. SEED Freedom has her in a purple military uniform like her old boss Patrick, but she's now firmly a Clyne loyalist like her son, and thus is on the same side as him against the radical faction
• Icy Blue Eyes: Ezalia's eyes are as cold as her personality.
• Knight Templar: Only a Natural genocide can save the Coordinators!
• Master Race: Fully endorses Patrick's agenda believing the Coordinators are this.
• My Beloved Smother: To Yzak. Which makes her a damn sight better than Patrick.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: Her politics are of the same radical bent as Patrick's and she supports his policies wholeheartedly.
• Number Two: To Patrick Zala. From a political standpoint she's practically The Dragon.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Just like Patrick, she’s racist towards Naturals.
• Put on a Prison Bus: Ezalia and her Radical Faction associates are last seen being arrested by the Clyne Faction loyalists at the end of SEED.
• Rousing Speech: Gives one to the troops during Boaz, exhorting them to show the Naturals who the true Master Race is.
• Shipper on Deck: In SEED Freedom, continuing from Audio Drama, she is looking for a "partner" for Yzak and now she is interested in her son's "relationship" with Shiho.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She's a Gender Flip of Yzak, without the scar.
• Superior Species: Share Patrick's belief that Coordinators are inherently superior to Naturals.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Ezalia was a member of Patrick Zala's radical faction back in SEED, but in SEED Freedom adheres to Siegel Clyne's ideology of peaceful coexistence between Coordinators and Naturals.
• Unwitting Pawn: Like Patrick, she's a pawn of Rau Le Creuset in SEED.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Like her son, though her genuine love for him may be her one saving grace.

Eileen Canaver

Voiced by: Naomi Shindō (Japanese); Lisa Ann Beley [Ocean dub], Erin Fitzgerald [NYAV Post dub] (English)

A member of the PLANT Supreme Council representing September City and aligned with Siegel Clyne's moderate faction in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.

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• Good Counterpart: Basically serves in the same capacity to Siegel Clyne as Ezalia Joule to Patrick Zala.
• You Are in Command Now: She takes command of the moderate faction remnants that remained in the PLANTs after Siegel's death and became the provisional Chairwoman of the Supreme Council following the conclusion of the war.

Council members at the time of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

Gilbert Durandal

Voiced by: Shūichi Ikeda (Japanese); Ted Cole [Ocean dub], Keith Silverstein [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"Power is necessary because there will always be conflict."

Durandal, the new PLANT Supreme Council Chairman in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, is a supposed moderate who believes Naturals and Coordinators can live in peace. He is a mentor figure towards the crew of the Minerva, and often talks about his plans for a better tomorrow. He also seems to be a bit of a fatalist and rarely explains anything directly, keeping his motives unclear for much of the series. By the end of SEED Destiny, it is revealed that he seeks to impose a genetic determinist dictatorship over humanity in an effort at preventing any more apocalyptic wars.

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• Ambition Is Evil: Durandal uses the page quote to Cagalli in the first episode of SEED Destiny as his excuse for amassing and maintaining military power, but even as he aims to make all conflict disappear, he has absolutely no intention of relinquishing an ironfisted grip on people's lives and fates. There's also the fact that the more military and political clout he takes hold of, the more he leans to Murder Is the Best Solution rather than even attempting his earlier polite facade again.
• Artistic License – Biology: There are a few problems with Durandal's reasoning, to say the least. Science knows right now that even people with identical DNA do not express it identically — not in appearance, health, personality, interests, or anything else. For someone who's as much of an in-series acclaimed genetics expert as Durandal to make that kind of a fundamental error is... both bizarre and hand waved.^note It should be noted that real life experts in genetics are known to make this kind of mistake — though not quite to the same extent — and for about the same reason as Durandal did. It bites him particularly hard with the closest example to hand — Rey, although given the relative lack of interest or understanding he ever provided there, perhaps it makes the major pseudoscientific errors less surprising.
  • Then there's Meer. The guy set up the lynchpin and major supporter of his plans not only on a lie, but as their potential downfall seeing as how her hugely successful role as "Lacus" had nothing to do with genetics.
• As Long as There Is Evil: A variant. He invokes this to Kira at the end of SEED Destiny, word-for-word that without him and his Destiny plan, mankind will continue to wage wars.
  Gilbert: If you shoot me now, this world will once again return to darkness and chaos. I'm telling you the truth.
  Kira: You may be right. But we have the ability to choose not to let that happen. Because we live in a world where choices are allowed.
  Gilbert: But no one ever makes that choice. People forget and repeat the same mistakes. They say that they won't allow it to happen again! That the world won't end up like this! But who can say that with certainty?! Nobody can say so with certainty. Certainly not you, nor that young lady. Because nobody really knows what lies ahead.
• Bad Boss:
  • To Athrun. He lies to him to get him to rejoin ZAFT in SEED Destiny, then later tries to have him and Meyrin murdered.
  • Also to Talia, whose authority he constantly overrides to the point where his gross dictatorial crimes lead her to try and stop him.
• Big Bad: Durandal is The Man Behind the Man to many of the worst tragedies in SEED Destiny, the final antagonist to be faced and is implied to be behind much of the incompetent Djibril's success for his own gain.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Durandal spends much of SEED Destiny seeking the destruction of Lord Djibril, Blue Cosmos leader, and his only real rival for position of most powerful man in the world. He wins out, having Djibril killed off just before the end of the series.
• Broken Ace: He's a successful doctor and lawyer turned politician, a Manipulative Bastard seen as Messianic Archetype by much of the world, a Well-Intentioned Extremist whose plans just might work, and a Villain with Good Publicity poised to gain everything. Whatever angle one looks at him from, Durandal has got it all. And he is deeply, deeply depressed, frustrated over his rocky relationship with Talia, unable to see any good in the world, and coping very badly with his inability to control it all.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • To Athrun and the ZAFT pilots who defect to Terminal in SEED Destiny. They initially saw him as a reasonable leader who knew what needed to be done to establish peace. When he proved to be very controlling and manipulative, and even willing to sacrifice his own troops for his ends, they basically decided to get out while they still could.
  • By the end of SEED Destiny, Rey becomes one to him and ultimately led to him having Durandal's blood in his own hands rather than let Kira martyr him. That's because during their battle, Kira convinces Rey to be himself rather than pretending to be someone he's not, as Durandal wanted Rey to take on Rau's identity.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: It's only after he has Meyrin and Athrun executed for treason near the end of SEED Destiny that he remembers she 'had' "an older sister": highly-ranked, completely faithful, and that he's had dinner with. His casual actions have now apparently ruined her life, and he doesn't even recall her name. Also a perfect illustration of the way he can't be bothered remembering you unless you serve a purpose for him.
• The Chessmaster: Durandal is really good at getting people to do things that benefit him.
• Char Clone: He channels Char Aznable's extremism to a more sane (but no less sinister) level than his friend Rau Le Creuset, as well as serving as a relatively-benevolent mentor for his army. Not to mention he's voiced by Shūichi Ikeda and in the NYAV dub, Keith Silverstein.
• Chess Motifs: The guy loves 'em, frequently playing with a chess set.
• Control Freak: Durandal simply cannot abide unpredictability, to the point of it being his Fatal Flaw. It's responsible for most of his Villain Ball moments, and for the totalitarian nightmare of the Destiny Plan.
• Create Your Own Hero: He went ahead with making his Lacus Clyne, Meer Campbell, a public figure, even after the assassination attempt on Lacus failed, or at least before confirming that the actual Lacus was dead. During the unveiling of the Destiny Plan, Kira lampshades that had the assassination attempt not happened, he, Lacus, and the Archangel crew might have never gotten involved (Meer's impersonation notwithstanding) and may have even supported Durandal's regime.
• Dark Messiah: Plays himself off as something approaching a prophet, addressing the world on behalf of fate. Most of ZAFT, and a sizeable portion of the rest of the world ends up buying into it, with many people the Earth Sphere over believing that Durandal can do no wrong.
• Deal with the Devil: Considering his specialty is "I'll fix all your problems while you do something for me—I mean, 'for the greater good'", it's not surprising. He makes ones with Meer, Athrun, Shinn and proposes one with humanity in the form of the Destiny Plan at the end of SEED Destiny.
• Destructive Romance: He remains obsessed by Talia leaving him years ago but has a highly unhealthy and affection-less relationship with the present-day Talia; happy to use her as one of his tools while constantly undermining her, not to mention the injury of the breakup possibly inspiring the Destiny Plan. His increasingly hideous behavior finally leads her to abandon her post and orphan her young son in a fruitless attempt at killing him, just so she and Rey can apparently die alongside him at the end of SEED Destiny.
• Didn't See That Coming: Lacus interrupting Meer's interruption of Cagalli's first worldwide broadcast since being "kidnapped" by Kira at the end of SEED Destiny. Of course, he's quick to work around on this, but his shocked expression (if just for a moment) clearly showed that Lacus caught him off-guard.
• Establishing Character Moment: Right off the bat at the beginning of SEED Destiny, he calls Cagalli "Princess", instead of her preferred (and proper) title of "Chief Representative Athha". When Cagalli says "can you stop?" he responds "of course, Representative Athha"... and then goes right back to doing it. It's remarkably effective at showing his utter inability to view people as anything other than his pre-assigned roles, or take into account another person's wishes, and his general asshole tendencies, as well as neatly subverting the "nice and thoughtful guy" image he takes such care to project.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He is clearly appalled and outraged at seeing the destruction of six of the PLANT colonies by the Requiem weapon at the hands of Djibril near the end of SEED Destiny, which killed over a million of Durandal's fellow Coordinators. It's one of the few times where there is visible anger on his face. However, this is later subverted, as he subsequently had no hesitation using the weapon on his own troops.
  • Averted in the Remaster of SEED Destiny, where he calmly looks at a shocked ZAFT official before expressing his anger.
  • Even though Durandal wanted to enforce the Destiny Plan in SEED Destiny, he at least had misguided but well meaning intentions about it namely to end all conflicts on the world and ensure Naturals and Coordinators would be treated equally. This is in contrast to Aura’s interpretation of the Destiny Plan in SEED Freedom which is to Take Over the World with Aura and her "children" on the top and Coordinators ruling over Naturals.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: During his standoff with Kira at the end of SEED Destiny, Gilbert is unable to process the fact that humanity can still learn from their follies in spite of their worst qualities, and when he asks Kira what he will do again should the world be plunged into chaos, the latter simply responds that he's ready for everything.
• Evil Counterpart: To Lacus Clyne in SEED Destiny, obviously. Both are charismatic political leaders and gifted orators who have their own approach to attaining peace. Lacus is a very uncompromising person despite being seemingly innocent and naive and helps bringing out the best in others, including Kira even in times of adversity. Durandal, on the other hand, cannot see the good in people in spite of their follies, and believes that free will is the root of all evil and his Destiny Plan is the solution to circumvent it, at the expense of robbing humanity of their ability to make choices for themselves. Gilbert also manipulates people to be someone they're not or even make others as worst versions of themselves and has no problem throwing them under the bus once outlived of their usefulness.
• Evil Genius: Mainly in his Manipulative Bastard abilities, such as getting most of humanity to buy what he's selling.
• Evil Mentor: To Rey, who thinks he has to relive Rau's miserable life.
• The Evils of Free Will: Durandal never flat-out states that he thinks free will is a bad thing, but given his generally fatalistic demeanour, and what the Destiny Plan contains, it's obvious that he thinks that allowing people to make their own decisions is a bad thing.
• Evil Versus Evil: With Djibril in SEED Destiny, his rival for the title of Big Bad. Djibril is more evil but Durandal is more competent and manages to outmaneuver him.
• The Fatalist: With all his talk about destiny and how things that happened were "meant to be" he definitely gives off this vibe.
• Fatal Flaw: His need to maintain control over everyone, coupled with his inability to understand that there is good in people in spite of their worst traits. He believes that there would be no wars if mankind was stripped of their ability to make decisions for themselves and only he (or DNA) should be making their decisions for them. This mindset alienates everyone he supposedly cares about; not only Talia, but even Rey, who was reeling from his battle with Kira after the latter calls him out for pretending to be someone he's not, and compelling him to shoot Gil.
• Faux Affably Evil: If he needs you to do something for him, Durandal can be pleasant and sympathetic, although not without obvious Jerkass cracks in the façade. If you don't listen to him or get in his way, Murder Is the Best Solution.
• Final Boss: After Djibril is killed, Durandal becomes the final threat for the heroes in SEED Destiny.
• Foil: Both he and Rau Le Creuset are extremely accomplished Manipulative Bastard Chessmasters who believe that Humans Are Bastards. They have different ideas as to what should be done about it. Rau believed he should help accelerate humanity's self-destruction while Durandal seeks to create a society completely ruled by genetic determinism that, in his eyes, would prevent conflict.
• General Failure: After Lacus blindsides him near the end of SEED Destiny, Durandal becomes more blatant in his methods in an attempt to keep a grip on his power, and in doing so destroys his good reputation.
• Glorious Leader: Durandal's a charismatic leader with a cult of personality and a radical vision for the future, who swept into office promising reform, hiding his real agenda.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Has narrow, serpentine eyes.
• Graceful Loser: At the end of SEED Destiny, when he is fatally shot by Rey. Beaten and rendered helpless, he gives up and accepts Rey's reasoning and Talia's presence.
  Durandal: (chuckles) Give me a break...
  • Subverted with Talia, he's seemingly this regards to her initially breaking up with him more than a decade ago. In reality, rather than work on their relationship, he continues to sulk and dwell on the breakup to the present day. It's even likely it played a large part in the Destiny Plan, and possibly the entire second war.
• Hobbes Was Right: What he believes and his Destiny Plan entails. Basically he thinks people are too selfish and chaotic to do anything but wage war against each other and the only way to prevent that is the iron fisted genetic determinism of the Destiny Plan.
• Humans Are Bastards: Shares Le Creuset's belief that people are inherently selfish, uncaring beings. The difference is that he wants to do something about it.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: He's fine with using Rey's childlike Hero Worship of him or keen strategic mind or letting himself be hugged to show Talia how loved he is, but he never reciprocates with anything similar or genuine.
• Improbable Age: He's a doctor, lawyer and the de-facto leader of an entire nation at the ripe age of thirty-four.
• Informed Ability: He's mentioned as a noted biologist and geneticist. Not only does he demonstrate none of it, he makes modern-day secondary or even elementary school-level errors in his master plans.
• Is This Thing Still On?: Variation, and a rare dramatic example. When everything starts going to heck in the final battle of SEED Destiny, Durandal tries to regain control of the situation by firing the Messiah's main cannon at the Eternal and the Archangel through his own ships. However, the order somehow got out onto the main channels, many of which were still being used by ZAFT soldiers like Yzak who switched sides at the start of the fight. Yzak immediately warned Eternal and Archangel and their allies, who got out of the way just in time, while the poor schmucks on Durandal's side got vaporized.
• It's All About Me: Standard for a Narcissist, but not only does Durandal even view his close relationships with little affection and as chess pieces for his own pursuits, it's entirely possible that the Destiny Plan and entire second war are due to never getting over the fact Talia was once able to choose something other than him.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In the backstory. It actually helped to screw him up even more than he already was. Subverted by the time of SEED Destiny, where he's perfectly happy to keep her life in constant danger in front-line combat because it suits his purposes.
• Jerkass: He's a smug, vain, manipulative Control Freak who shows almost no regard even for the people who are most devoted to him and/or his plans while simultaneously demanding the approval of the entire world. And this is before he busts out the giant WMDs.
• Knight Templar: His desire to control the destiny of humanity as a Well-Intentioned Extremist is driven by his narcissism, misanthropy, and angst over his failed relationship with Gladys, making it clear that he's Secretly Selfish. At the same time, his narcissism and misanthropy cause him to believe that humanity will destroy themselves without his guidance. Even when he's cornered and his beliefs are rebutted by Kira, he has deluded himself into thinking he has the moral high ground...which is likely a major reason why he never sought the advice of moral compass Lacus Clyne at all.
• Lack of Empathy: He can fake it pretty well when it suits his purposes, but at the end of the day, he's not really interested in, or affected by, anyone else's feelings. Arguably hurts him just as much as his need for control.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's a tall, handsome man with a long black mass of hair, but 34 is a bit long in the tooth to be a Pretty Boy.
• The Man Behind the Man: Durandal is certainly the driving force behind many events in SEED Destiny. Exactly how much he's responsible for is still debated by fans. Contested events range from the Armoury One Raid, the Break the World Incident, and the assassination attempt on Lacus to the formation of Logos itself.
• Manipulative Bastard: He takes advantage of the various fears and insecurities of about half the cast, seemingly most of the population of PLANT, and eventually many people worldwide, aided by the charisma and unfailing support of "Lacus".
• Moral Sociopathy: He has utopian ideals and seeks to stop humanity's cycle of war, but his Lack of Empathy means he has no problem committing atrocities to achieve those goals.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: The natural consequence of being an extreme Control Freak in charge of an entire, highly militarised nation. Durandal is disturbingly willing to respond to either dissent or the threat of dissent with lethal force, culminating with his plan to sort humanity into a rigid genetic caste system kept in line with superweapons on a hair trigger.
• Narcissist: Durandal desires the approval of others while actually caring very little about them, their wishes, or their needs. He's a textbook case, as well as a spiritual successor to the Mendel colony narcissist of SEED, Al Da Flaga.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: In a show that Expys Auschwitz at Lodonia, and has Meer Campbell working with him identified solely by a giant gold star, with her worth determined only by whether she has a job and can be useful, Durandal also exhibits his mastery of propaganda, image, and outright "Big Lies", as well as his ultimate "go along with my pseudoscientific master plan for humanity or die" attitude.
• New Era Speech: When he reveals the Destiny Plan, declaring it would prevent war from happening among humanity.
• Non-Action Big Bad: When he's not giving speeches, Durandal is behind a desk, leaving the fighting to everyone else. His lack of interest in any kind of fight extends beyond the war, and informs his general worldview.
  "I don't want to fight. I just want to win."
• Order Is Not Good: From Three Ships Alliance's narrative, Durandal's idea of a world without conflict through genetic determinism is basically, as Lacus sums it up, a "world of living death".
• Parental Substitute: Subverted. He appears to be this to Rey, but his total contribution apparently consists of a head pat, giving him drugs, using him as a prop to make a point to Talia, and giving him massive identity and self-esteem issues by ignoring him for Athrun and conflating him with his dead older brother.
• The Philosopher: Like Le Creuset and Lacus, Durandal spends a lot of time contemplating the life, the universe, and everything.
• Posthumous Character: He, as well as Rey and Captain Gladys, perished when the Messiah collapses at the end of Destiny.
• President Evil: Of the legally elected variety in SEED Destiny. He's a Faux Affably Evil Dark Messiah, a Jerkass Narcissist, and the PLANT Supreme Council's new chairman, who intends to lead humanity to his own definition of "peace" even if it costs them their free will.
• Putting on the Reich: It's not immediately apparent, but dye his trenchcoat and jackboots black, and voila! (His willingness to murder anyone who doesn't fit in with his master plan also helps.)
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted. Shinn believes the Chairman is one—he always listens to him, wants to make the world a better place, etc., etc., but it's all an act, designed to get Shinn on his side.
• Replacement Goldfish: One of his specialities and entirely to suit his needs. Notably, Meer for Lacus, and Rey for Rau, and also for Athrun. Arguably, Shinn for Kira, and Athrun for Athrun, wanting the Athrun from SEED pre-character development. Sadly and perhaps tragically unable to find one for Talia.
• The Reveal: Happens slowly in SEED Destiny, but here goes — he's playing on Shinn's emotional fragility through the emotional fragility of Rey, on Athrun's emotional fragility through his Daddy Issues, is conning the world with both his charm and the support of Lacus... er, Meer, was an acquaintance of Rau and debated humanity's flaws with him at length, was once seemingly in love with Talia but can't get over the fact she left him for something she wanted more, and intends to Take Over the World and impose a Social Darwinist utopia. God help you if you get in his way.
• Riddle for the Ages: How much of the events throughout SEED Destiny Durandal is truly responsible for, or at least had a hand in. The theft of the Chaos, Gaia, and Abyss was shown to be an Inside Job, the terrorists that caused the fall of Junius 7 all had their data completely erased, Lacus's initial assassination attempt (by Coordinators) occurs concurrently with the debut of his Lacus, Meer Campbell, and he is shown to have been aware of the existence of the Destroy and the Requiem prior to their destructive unveilings. Did he actually orchestrate the theft of the new Gundams, the dropping of the space colony, and the first attempt on Lacus? Did he allow for the Earth Alliance's WMD to be used so he can further sway people to his own side? Who knows?
  • Durandal essentially admits to the attempt on Lacus's life in Episode 48 in the original Japanese version of SEED Destiny, although it's not an iron-clad incrimination.
    Durandal: Now, this time, you shall disappear, Lacus Clyne.
• Sleeping with the Boss: Not only does Durandal sleep with one of his highest-ranked ZAFT personnel, he also continues to call her "Talia" publicly, when "Captain" would be more appropriate.
• Smart People Play Chess: The most manipulative man in the show and a brilliant chessmaster.
• Social Darwinist: A different type than normal for the trope; he believes that people are genetically suited to certain roles, and therefore society should use genetic analysis to assign people their "proper" place in life. Kira, Lacus, and the ''Archangel'' crew call bullshit.
• The Sociopath: Believe it or not, Gilbert checks all the of boxes: He is able to put a convincing and gentlemanly veneer to earn the sympathy of the masses. But underneath it all, Gil is also too emotionally detached, preventing him from making meaningful and lasting relationships, has an inflated ego, thoroughly manipulative coupled with his need to control the lives of people to keep them in line, and is incapable of understanding the idea mankind can still change for the better in spite of their worst qualities.
• Straw Nihilist: He has a deeply cynical view of humanity and free will, unlike Rau Le Creuset, who talked up the former but pointedly disagreed with him about the latter, and even demonstrated a couple more hopeful moments under his nose – mostly about Rey – that seemingly went entirely over Durandal's head. His Destiny Plan involves using genetic determinism to decide the roles of each and every person living in order to prevent free will from causing people's differing ideas from causing any more wars.
• Take Over the World: He's got more complicated reasons than most megalomaniacs, but his plan still requires this in order to work.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Durandal is a little taller than the people constantly surrounding him, has long black hair, and is widely viewed as attractive.
• Teen Genius: Aura was thoroughly impressed with Durandal's intelligence during the time she and Ulen Hibiki were rivals during their research days. ^note In C.E. 55 at his death, Ulen was 31. As Aura met Durandal when Ulen was still alive, Durandal would have been 14 at oldest as he was born in C.E. 41
• Übermensch: Seeks to completely change the world and impose his own vision of morality upon it.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Believes that by creating a society where people's lives are determined for them at birth, he will end all conflict and usher in a perfect world. To that end he's willing to manipulate everyone he meets, utterly destroy Shinn mentally, assassinate/arrest political opponents, and threaten countries that refuse with a Wave-Motion Gun.
• Villain Ball: Whilst he's generally the most competent of the show's Big Bad Ensemble by far, he has a bad habit of antagonising dangerous people well before he needs to. Examples include attempting to assassinate Lacus Clyne, turning his war with the Earth Alliance into a chaotic Mêlée à Trois, and trying to pull a You Have Outlived Your Usefulness on Athrun when he showed the slightest sign of hesitation in his loyalty (something that he had previously claimed he would grant some leeway on), driving him to defect to the Orb/Lacus alliance and severely jeopardising the Destiny Plan.
• Villain Has a Point: Aura considers Durandal to be correct that if Lacus were to become their opponent, it would be better to discard her rather than keep her alive because of her abilities and influence.
• Villain in a White Suit: Under his fancy colored coat, Durandal wears a white outfit meant to evoke Paptimus Scirocco from Zeta Gundam.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He convinces most of the world that he is their saviour.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Lacus and the Archangel continue to interfere in his plans in SEED Destiny, Durandal gradually loses all sense of Faux Affably Evil restraint he'd shown over the course of the series.
• Villainous Friendship: He was well-acquainted with the previous Big Bad, Rau Le Creuset, providing him with his signature drugs and being a chess and debate partner.
• Villainous Legacy: At the start of Gundam SEED Freedom, his influence is still felt even after his death, as the Foundation sought to finish what he started. Aura herself was an associate of him and Ulen back then.
• Visionary Villain: Picture a future without violence or the struggle for self-actualisation. That's the one that Durandal sees.
• With Us or Against Us: People who don't support the Chairman's utopian goals are not long for this world. Take President Joseph Copeland of the Atlantic Federation. Copeland expresses neither support nor opposition for the Destiny Plan, but simply tries to establish contact with Chairman Durandal to negotiate. Durandal refuses to entertain Copeland's request for a discussion, and uses the convenient pretext and rebuilt Requiem to destroy the Federation's base, killing Copeland and wiping out most of the Alliance's fighting force.

Council members at the time of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

Walter de Lament

Voiced by: Shinshu Fuji

The Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom.

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• Reasonable Authority Figure: As the leader of the moderate Clyne faction within PLANT in SEED Freedom, he tries his best to maintain a policy of détente with Earth's nations following the Second Alliance-PLANT War and support Compass' efforts to maintain the peace, much to the dismay of the remaining radicals still loyal to Patrick Zala who ally with the Foundation in an attempt to seize power and resume hostilities with Earth.
• Redeeming Replacement: He's a saint in the same vein as Siegel, at least when compared to the previous PLANT chairmen, who are either racists or Dark Messiahs.

Hari Jagannath

Main ship: Nazca-class

Voiced by: Hiroya Egashira

The Defense Committee Chairman of the PLANTs in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom.

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• The Coup: He leads a rebellion to overthrow the PLANT's government in SEED Freedom, allying with the Foundation to do so.
• Fantastic Racism: He shares Patrick Zala's Master Race ideology regarding the Coordinators which leads him to later enact The Coup to usurp the PLANT's leadership by allying with the pro-Coordinator Foundation.
• History Repeats: Like Patrick Zala before him, he's part of the Council's radical faction who tries to assassinate the chairman.
• Karmic Death: For attempting to launch a coup on the PLANTs, Jagannath has the poetic honor of being killed by another ZAFT commanding officer: Yzak.
• Villainous Valour: Even at a disadvantage and a number of his men killed, Jagannath continues his battleship's cruise against Orb in the name of not the Foundation but his fallen men.

Civilians

Lacus Clyne

See her entry on the ''SEED'' main characters page

Meer Campbell

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese); Chantal Strand [Ocean dub, speaking], Jillian Michaels [Ocean dub, singing], Stephanie Sheh [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"I am Lacus Clyne. I'm Lacus! I'd rather be her!"

An ordinary PLANT civilian and huge fan of Lacus Clyne, 17 year old Meer is chosen to get plastic surgery and replace Lacus after she goes into hiatus during Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, as she shares her idol's abilities and voice. While she appears naive and somewhat less than brilliant, it's uncertain how much of this is real, how much is part of her flawed impersonation of Lacus, and how much is self-serving to either deny responsibility for her actions, protect herself from others, see where this whole act will take her, or a mix of all of the above. As the series progresses, she becomes less and less sure of herself and her role.

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• Anti-Villain: She explains to Athrun that she knows what she's doing is wrong, but still does it because she wants to continue being Lacus instead of a nobody like Meer Campbell.
  "Miss Lacus is so beautiful, so kind, so adored! [...] But me? I'm not needed by anyone."
• Ascended Fangirl: And one who got the chance to become her idol! It... doesn't turn out well.
• Becoming the Mask: Zig-Zagged; Meer seems to have initially thought that she'd be Lacus's proxy until she comes out of "retirement" (because Lacus will obviously support the Chairman), then realizes she'll have to "be" Lacus permanently but understands she's not really Lacus (especially once she — and the rest of the world — found out that the real Lacus would have none of Durandal's schemes), then as her mental state deteriorates, she starts to convince herself that she's literally become Lacus, but in the end she meets the real Lacus and prioritizes her over herself, even Taking the Bullet for her.
• Boob-Based Gag: Her naturally large pair isn't just there for Fanservice—it serves as a (very obvious) reminder that she isn't the real Lacus – although only to the audience. The explanation in PLANT was that Lacus's genes were coordinated to have her "blossom" before her comeback, which no one questions. The increasing focus on Meer's chest and bouncing from the original series to the Special Editions to Remaster seems to show the people of the Cosmic Era weren't the only ones Distracted by the Sexy.
• Broken Bird: To say this young woman is a mess, mentally and emotionally speaking, is an Understatement.
• Celeb Crush: On Athrun Zala in SEED Destiny, a war hero and principled defector whom she, along with the general public, still believes is Lacus' fiance. Athrun is uncomfortable, yet never bothers explaining anything even close to the truth.
• Deal with the Devil: She got to be her idol and have fortune, fame, beauty, and a purpose to boot. Too bad it was offered by a guy with extremely sinister motives for the human race.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: This is really the root of her (and a lot of the eventual world's) problems. She believes she's totally unneeded and can't figure out her own destiny, so letting someone else give her a destiny mimicking someone as beautiful and beloved as Lacus (for national security reasons, no less) seems to be a solution.
• Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: While her stage costume is based on Lacus's first outfit in SEED, Lacus's iconic hairclip is almost the only thing Durandal didn't feel the need to replicate. Meer's is a giant gold star. Given how this is the only thing to identify her while she works for A Nazi by Any Other Name, it has deeply and deliberately unsettling implications.
• Flat Character: Deliberately (though not in the literal sense of the term). Other than her true name, we don't know a single thing about Meer that doesn't have to do with her "Durandal's fake Lacus with giant boobs" impersonation until she dies and we hear from her diary.
• Genki Girl: She's introduced as bubbly and unashamedly exhibitionistic. However, it's mostly a mask.
• Glamorous Wartime Singer: Invoked on her with a vengeance. A big part of her role posing as Lacus is giving concerts at military bases and boosting morale by cheering ZAFT with her customized pink ZAKU — ironically (and deliberately) since the real, less-glamorous Lacus was never shown to be willing to cheerlead for the military or affiliate herself with ZAFT to the extent Meer does.
• Heroic Sacrifice: When Lacus is again marked for death at the end of SEED Destiny, Meer willingly takes the assassin's last bullet and dies protecting her.
• Hotter and Sexier: What she did to Lacus' "sweet and pure" image. Her outfits show a lot more skin and her versions of Lacus' songs are faster and flirtier. Also, compare her Girl Next Door past self to her current one.
• "I Am" Song: "Emotion" is basically the story of her character, and is the only song she sings that isn't a remix of Lacus's. In it she sings about how she used to be incredibly lonely, when one day someone knocked on her door and gave her everything she wanted, and how she refuses to go back to the way she was before.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Three things differentiate her from the real Lacus; her differently (star) shaped golden hairclip, her red, English-speaking Haro, and her large bosom. Meer's hair is also more "done" and straightened, and meant to be a slightly different shade of pink, but it's not nearly as obvious. Super Robot Wars K and L makes this hair shade distinction more obvious due to the character portraits being only their faces along with giving Meer slightly larger cheeks compared to Lacus's slimmer face to tell them apart easier.
• Idol Singer: Her looks may be faked via plastic surgery, but she is a genuinely talented singer and her angelic voice is for real, and that's why she was chosen for the role. In fact, her flashbacks shows her being recruited through what looks like a singing audition.
• I Just Want to Be Special: Overlapping with I Just Want to Be Loved. Meer believed she was an unneeded nobody and revels in the adoration she gets playing Lacus, along with a chance to be "useful".
• Jerkass Ball: Exaggerated and Played for Laughs. The Quiet Night (C.E. 73) MV has clips from the Destiny anime with added animations of words appearing, presumably on Meer's opinion of events that occur. These include poking fun at Lunamaria being annoyed at Shinn, having "Athrun Win" and "Shinn Lose" appear when Athrun wins an argument against Shinn, the word "ANGRY" appearing when Lacus appears annoyed at seeing Meer for the first time performing and GET FAT in Gratuitous English with the scene where Meyrin unsuccessfully tries on Lunamaria's miniskirt.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Played with. Meer may be Ms. Fanservice and one of the Big Bad’s million pawns, but she’s sweet, energetic, innocent and literally goes wishing for peace, calming angry mobs and starting crowd chants about L-O-V-E! Lacus, meanwhile, the former embodiment of Light Feminine, is now dressed in black, playing spymistress, building some weapons, urging people to fight and generally trying to be more cunning and effective than said Big Bad.
• Meaningful Name: Her name has two meanings: first, it means "lake" in Dutch, which symbolizes her as Lacus's (whose name also means "lake", this time in Latin) doppelganger. Second, her name plays on the word "mirror", to symbolize her as Lacus's Body Double. Her last name, Campbell, is also Scottish, like Lacus's last name, Clyne.
• The Mentally Disturbed: Gets pushed right into this with the friendly manipulations and Gaslighting of Durandal and company, who continue to refer to her as "Lacus" long after their cover's blown by "that other Lacus".
• Ms. Fanservice: Pretty? Yes. Busty? Yes. With revealing wardrobe? Yes. Bubbly and cheerful, at least on the outside? Yes... Invoked by Durandal, both to gain an audience and also to get "Lacus" to be seen as merely eye-candy. She also subverts Nipple and Dimed in Remaster with a now-transparent nightie, which also provides several scenes where her breasts appear even larger than they first did.
• Perfect Disguise, Terrible Acting: She looks and sounds exactly like Lacus, but outside of performing and speechmaking, her behavior is so unlike the real Lacus that it fools nobody that actually knows her. However, due to the secretive private life Lacus leads outside of performing and making speeches (which is why Meer was unable to be trained in how to act like her in her personal life), the only person Meer regularly encounters who knows Lacus is Athrun.
• Pet the Dog: Even though she is firmly on ZAFT's side, Meer genuinely cares for Athrun that she got worried when Durandal and Rey began to plan on detaining Athrun.
• Pink Means Feminine: Meer takes Lacus' "Pink Princess" label to further extremes with things like a pink personal limo and a pink-colored ZAKU Warrior that's used as the concert stage during one of her performances.
• Poke the Poodle: To Lunamaria. Meer seems aware that she has a crush on Athrun and likes to show her that Athrun is "hers". Aside from that and knocking Lunamaria over to run to Athrun, Meer does not show maliciousness to any other characters, Lunamaria included.
• Preferable Impersonator: Meer is wildly popular and people love her energetic, flashy style. Lacus herself brings this up in the relevant CD drama, pointing out "people seem to prefer this sort of arrangement" versus her own more subdued performances.
• Propaganda Machine: Durandal made her appear to be Lacus, in order to gain Lacus's "voice" and Loved by All status as support and sanction for his own plans in PLANT and Earthsphere-wide. It's heavily implied the real Lacus was either nowhere near malleable enough for him, or he didn't feel up to convincing her and couldn't chance her turning him down.
• Redemption Equals Death: She wasn't exactly evil, but did go with Durandal's plans so she dies in a heroic fashion at the end of SEED Destiny.
• Robot Buddy: One of the other visible ways to distinguish her from Lacus: her red Haro, nicknamed "Mr. Red" (a color none of Lacus's flock had) and speaking English (which none of Lacus's did). The color is both Law of Chromatic Superiority and part of the show's overall Char Aznable Mythology Gag (considering who provided it to her).
• Sanity Slippage: She eventually seems to believe — or at least tries really hard to convince herself — that she really is Lacus. The pressure surrounding her to be exactly that, even after being exposed, doesn't help.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl:
  • Her skimpy pink nightie is translucent in the HD Remaster of SEED Destiny, which also reveals that it was all she wore to sleep in the same bed with Athrun (the fur trims just barely covering her most explicit areas). Meer isn't at all embarrassed to be seen nearly-naked by Lunamaria when she coolly dismisses her. Ironically, even while an unaware Athrun protests that Lacus "doesn't do things like this!", Lacus herself is also very much one as seen in SEED with Kira.
  • This is the same Meer Campbell who was packaged wholesale as Ms. Fanservice and has no problem performing for and being displayed to all of PLANT and a good chunk of the nations on Earth in what's little more than a Stripperriffic skintight thong bodysuit with no bra or corset support, so perhaps the sleepwear part of her wardrobe shouldn't come as a shock.
• Showgirl Skirt: Her costume has one. Appropriate, since she is a major performing sensation in addition to being Ms. Fanservice.
• Significant Double Casting: Being Lacus' Body Double, she shares her voice actress in every other versions.
• Stepford Smiler:
  • She's all smiles and energy on the outside, but the reality is, she's a young woman who valued herself little enough to try and become someone else.
  • She certainly ends up as this once she believes she's no longer needed, again, but Meer genuinely believed in the Chairman and that what she was doing would provide a better future for everyone. Also, there's nary a teenage girl with poor self-esteem who wouldn't accept the amazing, life-changing deal she was offered.
• Stripperiffic: Her costume was deliberately designed to be revealing and the opposite of what the real Lacus would wear. Literally. At least with regards to Lacus's iconic white-and-purple outfit in SEED, she has shoulder "epaulets" where Lacus's were bare, bare arms where Lacus had sleeves, gloves where Lacus had bare hands, naked hips (to the point where one wonders what is holding her skirt up because it's too low to be resting on any piece of her anatomy, but it doesn't appear to be attached to anything^note  there are some "buttons" or fasteners at the back of her skirt, which is a Showgirl Skirt and so really just an attached piece of material, but only cosplayers likely have the answer for how Meer's outfit works) where Lacus had multiple skirts, etc. It's also skintight and leaves her chest free to flaunt its buoyancy. Played with in that the real Lacus also had some rather daring stage outfits that managed to make not a dent in her Incorruptible Pure Pureness — part of how Meer got away with it!
• Surgical Impersonation: While her singing voice really is that good, she looked nothing like Lacus at first. She had plastic surgery performed to become a Body Double. A photo she gives Lacus shows what she actually looked like: black-haired, freckled, and overall somewhat plain. Compared to other female characters around her age in the Cosmic Era, Meer's eyes appear quite different as though in a completely different art style to highlight how different she used to be.
• Taking the Bullet: She shields Lacus from an assassin sent with her by Durandal, who apparently has had intel that Lacus, Kira, Athrun and Meyrin are taking a break in Copernicus near the end of SEED Destiny.
• Tragic Keepsake: Meer's red Haro serves as this for Lacus, as revealed in SEED Freedom, this Haro is among of the rest of Lacus' Haros present in the film.
• Villainous Breakdown: In the last couple of episodes of SEED Destiny, for a certain definition of "villain", she has an identity crisis. After unwittingly putting herself on the opposite side of her idol and constantly faced with veiled threats by her bodyguards, she started thinking that she herself is Lacus Clyne.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Her self esteem is so low that she deeply wants to be noticed and loved, especially by her beloved/hated "Lady Lacus".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Tries to pull this on Lacus upon their encounter in SEED Destiny, saying she has been helping people while Lacus was staying out of sight, ignoring the world's problems (unaware that she's been busy unraveling Durandal's Destiny Plan). Lacus manages to calm her down, and even is this close to convincing her to pull a complete Heel–Face Turn, but Meer dies soon afterwards.
• You Are Already Checked In: When Lacus is in the process of stealing her ride back to space in SEED Destiny, a rare example of the second person being the impostor. She's not too pleased, but exceptionally not to hear Lacus called "the real one".
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Athrun speculates that Durandal will dispose of her if Meer continues to be his Lacus Clyne in SEED Destiny. Eventually he won't have any use for any Lacus. Given how once the real Lacus returns and it's clear Meer can't compete with her verbally, Durandal promptly has her pulled from making Lacus appearances and she's eventually used as bait in another assassination attempt (with the squad assigned to "guard" her even emotionally manipulate her into try to kill Lacus herself which would have gotten her gunned down pretty quickly if Athrun didn't know her and he and Kira weren't so merciful). The fact that the squad shot at Lacus' group with little regard that Meer would be caught in their crossfire, if not intentionally targeting her as well as a final loose end, suggest that Athrun was correct on that front. The Edge manga pushes this idea forward as the ZAFT security fired at Athrun when he deserted, even though Meer was with him at the time.

Bernadette Leroux

A member of ZAFT's official news service appearing in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray, she is often seen acting as an anchorwoman for the PLANTS. She is occasionally sent out to do field work as well, and often runs into Jess Rabble.

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• Friendly Rival: She doesn't always agree with Jess's attitude toward journalism, but she respects his character.

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The Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty

The Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty is the primary antagonist at the beginning of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Formed in CE 50 by Patrick Zala and Siegel Clyne as a political organization, the Zodiac Alliance, ZAFT now represents the Coordinators living in the breakaway PLANT nation at L5 as a militia. Fighting for independence from the Earth nations that built the PLANT colonies they live in, their fight is far more complicated than an idealistic crusade against tyranny. Their presentation changes drastically during the course of the series, managing to become both more and less sympathetic at the same time.

Le Creuset Team

Commanding Officers

Rau Le Creuset

Main mecha: ZGMF-515 CGUE, AMF-101 DINN, ZGMF-600GuAIZ, ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese); Mark Oliver [Ocean dub], Kevin T. Collins [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"Everything is born into this world, and eventually, dies. That's the pure and simple truth of it."

"Suspicion, ignorance, prejudice, the dark emotions directed at those who can be loved. If love is the brightest light, then are these emotions created from the shadow it casts? Things that are different, things we don't understand, differences that foster anxiety, leading to hatred, and ultimately...confrontation."

Athrun's commanding officer and Patrick Zala's right-hand man in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Le Creuset is a feared ZAFT ship captain and mobile suit pilot, renowned for his ability and his ruthlessness. He is assigned to hunt down the Archangel, and is later given command of the assaults on Alaska and Panama, and the defence of Jachin Due. Always masked, Le Creuset is an enigmatic figure with a grudge against Mu La Flaga, and his own agenda, which he keeps entirely to himself. A very dangerous man.

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Rau makes several appearances in various characters' flashbacks, many of which expand upon his life and philosophy, helping to further explain his actions in SEED, while also showing his legacy two years later.

Le Creuset is a spoiler-heavy character, so read with caution.

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• Accent Adaptation: Gets a nice transatlantic one in English from Mark Oliver to go with his formal manners and theatrical tastes (and a very fine dub performance).
• Ace Custom: Flies several high-end mass production mobile suits, all of them painted silver. These include a GINN High Maneuver Type, a CGUE command suit, a flight-capable DINN, and one of the new production GuAIZ's, which had just come off the line, and incorporates an OS based on the one in the stolen Gundams. The only exception to the rule is the Super Prototype Providence Gundam.
• Ace Pilot: One of the few snipers in Gundam, he fights all of his battles from a distance to lethal effect, and unlike other pilots who seem to focus solely on ranged battles, Rau is fully capable of taking on very strong Coordinators like Kira in close range combat provided his mobile suit could keep up. In fact, his final suit, the Providence Gundam is even a close-range machine retrofitted with Dragoons and a long-range rifle, letting him take full advantage of both traits.
• Affably Evil: His courteous and thoughtful nature is real. Considering he was likely raised to be exactly the opposite, it's both innate and his choice. The darkness he throws himself into and the damage he causes are equally real.
• Alertness Blink: Experiences a Newtype Flash whenever Mu La Flaga is within a few kilometers. It is one of the few things that point to their having newtype-like abilities. Interestingly he also receives it under other circumstances than Mu's arrival, suggesting that his Newtype powers are stronger than Mu's.
• Archenemy: To Mu in SEED because of the whole "clone" thing, and later Kira, because of their similar origins. To quote the man himself.
  ''You always get in my way, Mu La Flagga!
• Archnemesis Dad: Rau was cloned from La Flaga's father, and meant to serve as a replacement son, he could easily be seen as fulfilling either trope.
• Ax-Crazy: Post Sanity Slippage. Given that his series-long plan of destroying all life is about to come into fruition, why hide it anymore?
• Badass Normal: He may be a clone of Al Da Flaga, but that doesn't give him any special abilities- aside from the hints that he and Mu may be Newtypes (see Alertness Blink above). Yet he is still good enough to fake being a Coordinator.
• Beam Spam: The Freedom's Beam Spam is so famous that it's easy to forget that Rau's Providence is the true king of spam in SEED. The suit itself has one oversized beam rifle and a pair of beam guns built into its shield, and is fitted with a DRAGOON system that lets it remote-control eleven Attack Drones - three large, eight small. The small ones have two beam guns each, while the large ones have nine, giving the Providence a grand total of forty-six beam guns that it can fire from a dozen different directions at once. Most of the Final Battle consists of Kira trying to find a way through Rau's curtain of beam fire without losing too many important parts of his suit's anatomy in the process.
• Beat Them at Their Own Game: A villainous example. Rau always fought Mu who had the Moebius Zero with its Attack Drones until their situation becomes reversed Rau gets the Providence Gundam with its own Attack Drones and Mu is now in the Aile Strike Gundam. The Strike gets heavily damaged and practically disabled as Rau begins using similar tactics Mu did to him along with the Providence having much higher capabilities.
• Berserk Button: Do not try to take off (or shoot off) his mask. We're looking at you, Mu.
• Beta Test Baddie: He is essentially a byproduct of the Ultimate Coordinator project, created by Dr. Hibiki in order to secure the funding needed to produce Kira.
• Beware the Superman: He tells Kira at the end of SEED that if the truth of Kira's birth were known, people would destroy themselves trying to become like Kira. Given what's already happened to humanity with the Natural/Coordinator conflict (also philosophically narrated by Rau) and Rau's penchant for delivering Cassandra Truth, he's probably not wrong.
• Big Bad: Of SEED. He's the one pulling both the strings of both Azrael and Patrick Zala, to drive them against each other in war of mutually assured destruction because he believes all life is meaningless and thus should be wiped out.
• Big Bad Friend: To Durandal, before the SEED Destiny or even SEED began.
• Bigger Stick: The Providence, which is from the same line as the Freedom and the Justice.
• Bilingual Bonus: It's very subtle, but there are a couple of linguistic things in Japanese that point to Mu and Rau being related, even with the totally different personalities and without the bigger hints: they still both "Oi, oi" and "yare, yare" a couple of times, and there's Rau's "ojousan" versus Mu's "jouchan".
• Blade Below the Shoulder: The Providence's beam saber is built into its arm-mounted shield. It's a left-over from how the machine was meant for Melee combat originally.
• Break Them by Talking: Rau makes a habit of dispiriting others — particularly with Flay, Mu, and Kira. His effectiveness varies.
• Broken Ace: He is a skilled and intelligent man, as capable in battle as he is in directing others. He is also a twisted individual with mcuh baggage.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is not so much "quirky" as he tends to act on his own initiative more than his superiors might wish. There is also the whole "constantly wearing a mask" thing. Damned if he doesn't get results, though.
• Char Clone: He checks all the three boxes in SEED.
  • A blond Ace Pilot with an agenda, alias, and Cool Mask who is also The Rival? Check! Gundam contractual obligations fulfilled.
  • Rau also acts as The Mentor towards Athrun and the rest of the Le Creuset team, fulfilling the Quattro Bajeena branch of the trope.
  • At the end of the series, Rau embodies the final Char archetype, becoming the Dark Messiah to the entire human race, purporting to save them from their suffering through annihilation.
• The Chessmaster: He beautifully orchestrates events in SEED so that the Earth Alliance will fire nuclear weapons and ZAFT will fire GENESIS.
• Clone Angst: He believes that he has no real identity, and a result his sense of self-worth is more than a little damaged.
• Clone Degeneration: Rau's telomeres are too short, leaving him effectively dying of old age at 25 years old. He is forced to take increasingly large doses of drugs to stabilise this, and is subject to seizures at irregular intervals as his body breaks down.
• Commanding Coolness: Like most ZAFT officers he holds the generic rank of "commander".
• Cool Mask: He is a Char Clone, after all. In SEED Destiny, we see both how long he's had it and him without it, finally.
• Cultured Badass: Rau philosophizes like crazy, has the most skilled rhetoric in the show, and states he doesn't want to be mocked by future historians. He has a fierce intelligence and is clearly interested in more than being a soldier.
• Cynical Mentor: To Athrun and Yzak in SEED. He's the opposite of idealistic, yet still rather sympathetic to unhappy, cynical Athrun and also saves hotheaded Yzak from getting killed at Alaska.
• Dark Is Evil: As an iconic 'evil Gundam', his Providence uses a much darker version of the traditional red, white, and blue colour scheme (the red and blue stick, but the white is replaced a very dark grey). It makes a striking contrast with his earlier silver-gray suits, too - the fact that he starts piloting it shortly after being revealed as a nihilistic Omnicidal Maniac is almost certainly not a coincidence.
• Dead Person Conversation: Has an episode length one in SEED Destiny with Durandal.
• Death Seeker: Wants to die, with the caveat that everyone else goes first.
• Dehumanization: He is denied an identity of his own and is treated as an extension of his 'father' Al Da Flaga, which forms the basis of his worldview.
• Double Agent: Both Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael think he is working for them in SEED. He is manipulating both to his own ends.
• Dissonant Serenity: Rau is perfectly happy to dole out cheerful Breaking Speeches in the midst of battle. Particularly jarring in the last episode of SEED, but this may be due to his questionable sanity at the time. Mu is fond of sticking lampshades all over this.
• Dragon-in-Chief: He acts as Patrick Zala's right hand man, though he's really SEED's Big Bad and Patrick wouldn't have gotten anywhere without Le Creuset pulling his strings.
• Drone Deployer: The Providence features the DRAGOON System, the Cosmic Era equivalent to the UC's Funnel System, which is basically this trope. The Gundam possesses 3 large pods and 8 smaller ones, the former equipped with 9 beam guns each for a wideshot, the latter with 2 beam guns each for a normal shot. Together, the Providence carries a total of 43 beam gun nozzles. Interestingly enough, this equipment was actually hastily applied to the machine, and yet Rau is good enough a sniper to control it all as if it was part of It's native loadout.
• 11th-Hour Superpower: Upgrading to the Providence in time for the finale.
• Enigmatic Minion: To Patrick Zala. From the beginning of SEED, it is clear that Le Creuset has his own agenda, but just what that agenda is remains a secret until the end of the series. He actually remains with Zala for a surprisingly long time, only leaving after asking if he should kill Athrun, and being told it didn't matter.
• Establishing Character Moment: He's a complex guy so he gets a few.
  • First is when he orders anti-fortress equipment used on Heliopolis at the beginning of SEED, showing that he is both fine with and actively willing to destroy things.
  • Then there's the point where he talks about Athrun returning sobbing with Lacus's dead body at the beginning of SEED, hinting at his dark side.
  • And then there's the famous moment he stops going after the Archangel after Lacus yells at him and tells him off, even though someone like him could (apparently) have easily brushed her aside. Even he has limits and a continued willingness to listen, however surprising those might be.
  • Finally, the Clip Show he originally narrates has him thinking way more about people and why they are doing what they're doing than (possibly barring Lacus and certainly onscreen) any other character in SEED. It's worth noting that unmasked and alone here, he is very sane and rather fond of the truth, despite later appearances.
• Evil Counterpart: To no fewer than three characters in SEED: Mu (as his cloned "brother" and fellow Mentor), Kira (they're both results of LEGO Genetics experiments, with Le Creuset showing how badly Kira could have turned out if he hadn't been raised by the right people), and Lacus (on a purely philosophical level).
• Evil Is Bigger: While it is the standard height for a military mobile suit, his Providence is the bulkiest Gundam in the show, with a backpack to emphasise its imposing build. A close-combat machine converted into a dedicated long-range sniping unit, even its other weapons such as beam rifle and beam saber are larger than the standard, with a beam rifle the size of a beam ''bazooka'' and an arm mounted beam saber that is as long as an anti-''ship'' sword. Even the Freedom and the Justice, which comes from the same line of Gundams, look positively delicate next to it.
• Evil Is Hammy: Rau is rather understated at the beginning of the series; it is not until his real plans come out that he starts Chewing the Scenery.
• Evil Laugh: Lets out an incredible one at the penultimate episode of SEED.
• Evil Plan: Manipulate the First Bloody Valentine War to make Naturals and Coordinators exterminate each other, because he believes they are all terrible and deserve it.
• Exact Words: Overlapping with Cassandra Truth, Rau is fond of these, seemingly because his Newtype abilities come with some unspecified level of Psychic Powers. Among others:
  • Talking about Athrun's engagement at the beginning, he tells him "the blood of Committee Chairman Zala and the blood of Chairman Clyne will create a bright light for the future. I'm counting on you." By the end of SEED, Siegel and Patrick have both been murdered and GENESIS has created a very bright light thanks to exploding by Athrun self-destructing his Gundam, killing Rau.
  • Lacus tells him with a knowing look that "war results may be very important, but please do not forget about all the people who die along the way". He promptly and sincerely promises her that he will not.
  • "Earth is going to burn. And the tears and screams of the survivors will fuel the next war." Consider what happens post-Colony Drop in the SEED Destiny.
  • "The Chairman is having a hell of a time trying to get Lacus Clyne under control." Again, see SEED Destiny.
• False Friend: Despite their interactions appearing friendly, Rau and Durandal's philosophical differences lead to them trying to out-match each other. Ultimately, Durandal is on the losing end.
• Faux Affably Evil: With Patrick Zala in SEED, yet he still doesn't betray him to his face. To always speak so highly of "His Excellency" and only show infrequent internal signs of displeasure, means the former may not have been entirely an act. Also that Rau is a superlative Stepford Smiler. Downplayed.
• Foil:
  • To Mu. Rau's negative skepticism constantly plays off Mu's easygoing willingness not to question much. It's almost a case of Sibling Yin-Yang.
  • To Athrun. Patrick Zala treats him like the favored son and shows Athrun what amounts to zero kindness. Due to his own past and probably because of this, Rau's generally quite sympathetic to Athrun.
  • Both he and Lacus are The Philosopher with a knack for good manners and Break Them by Talking. She's accused of being a traitor and a spy; he really is a Double Agent. Neither of them is at all happy with the current state of the world and each looks for channels outside conventional government and warfare to deal with it. Rau even ends up with a pale-purple and white pilot suit that's very similar to her general color scheme. However, Lacus wants people to stop killing each other — Rau no longer believes they're capable of it.
  • To Kira. Both of them are products of the Mendel Colony, with the cloning process that created Rau having even been used to both fund and advance the Ultimate Coordinator project that gave birth to Kira. Both of them suffer through Dehumanization during the events of the series and both of them represent, in Rau’s eyes, the true hubris and lows humanity will sink to for their ambitions. Kira himself even briefly buys into the idea that he’s a monster before Lacus calms him down. Kira was a Coordinator fighting for the Earth Alliance (which is repeatedly emphasized throughout the show), but had no loyalty to it, simply doing it to protect his friends. Rau is a person of unknown genetic type from the Atlantic Federation fighting for ZAFT, but also has no loyalty to it; however he uses his position entrenched in its power structure to further his nihilistic goals. After initially pushing her away and returning her to ZAFT, Kira accepts Lacus's help and direction; after initially touting her and being the first one to take her quite seriously, Rau ends up continuing to operate independently of her, even attempting to kill her at the end. Both Rau and Kira desire a change in the world, but what they desire and the reasons they desire it are essentially the complete opposite of each other, which is also why they come to the conclusion that they cannot co-exist.
  • To Rey, as Durandal persistently refuses to recognize the fact that despite DNA, they are not identical; to Durandal, who can never quite grasp that Rau disagreeing with or encouraging him may actually be harmful, and to Neo Roanoke, who does a Laser-Guided Karma very bad imitation of him (see things like Flay vs. Stella).
• Formal Characters Use Keigo: Not constantly like Lacus, but Rau is essentially the runner-up; still a very formal person who uses a good bit of this, especially around or in reference to His Excellency (Committee) Chairman Zala, and who tends to default to proper speech, frequently.
• Freudian Excuse: Rau was illegally cloned by an irredeemable rich jerk of a businessman whose first words upon seeing his new son were "This is me, right?" Said biological template went on to abandon and possibly abuse him. Add in his Clone Degeneration, and the fact that he is a dying man at twenty-five, and his actions become much more understandable, but not excusable.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Beneath the mask. And he is a cold professional.
• Hates Everyone Equally: As much Fantastic Racism there already is with one side wanting to destroy the other, his hatred is focused on all sides of the conflict. In his own perspective, both Natural and Coordinator alike deserve what he believes to be their inevitable fate for all the crimes that they're capable of. This is by no means a positive example.
• Hero Killer: Even when he doesn't pull the trigger he racks up quite a body count by the end of SEED. His manipulations lead to the deaths of both Mu La Flaga (at the time) and Natarle and he directly kills Flay. He'd have killed Lacus and Dearka had Kira and Yzak not been able to intervene in time.
• In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves: Part of his philosophy; he believes he is just speeding up the process.
• Insane Admiral: :He masks it well, but at the end Le Creuset is either this or doing a damn fine imitation.
• Kick the Dog: At teh end of SEED, He kills Flay just to hurt Kira, though it's highly ambiguous as to whether he knew she was on the shuttle or was just trying to destroy the thing Kira was protecting. He's also the person mainly responsible for the gruesome Cyclops incident at JOSH-A, although that's de-emphasized due to the sadism, racism, and indifference of OMNI high command.
• Kill All Humans: His goal is to destroy humanity, be it Natural or Coordinator.
• Large Ham: Rau is fond of theatrical gestures, dramatic lines and monologues right from the get-go, with Mendel probably being his best performance.
• The Last Dance: The entire plot of SEED is revealed to be winding down to his.
• Light Is Not Good: He wears white, pilots mostly white mobile suits, has a name meaning "The Crucible", and eventually pilots The Providence. Definitely not a good guy.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Or rather, Mu, I am your father's clone; Kira, this is all your father's fault for getting involved with the guy and you're the lab experiment my existence paid for.
• Malevolent Masked Man: Constantly wears a mask and is one of the worst people shown in SEED.
• Manipulative Bastard: Beautifully manipulates everyone in SEED, from his subordinates to his superiors to his enemies, to further his goals. He also checkmates and out-philosophizes his "friend" Durandal about his pathological Control Freak tendencies.
• Mask of Sanity: Throughout the series seems to be a calm, efficient Reasonable Authority Figure who just happens to be working for the bad guys. This made the revelation of how seriously twisted he really is all the more shocking when he started ranting and raving in front of Kira and Mu. And then he goes right back to being calm and collected in public after said confrontation. Bonus points for actually wearing a mask all the time, and it only comes off when he's at the height of his crazy episode.
• Meaningful Name: "Le Creuset" is French for "crucible". Doubly meaningful, as he chose the name himself once he discovered what he was.
• Mercy Kill: :Seems to believe he's performing one on the human species as a whole. He implicitly offers it to Kira in their final battle of SEED.
  Rau: "Why torment yourself saying, 'Eventually, someday?' How long have you been fighting with your thoughts clouded by that brand of sweet poison?"
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Le Creuset upgrades his suits throughout the show, starting with a Ginn High Maneuver Type, than flying a CGUE, a DINN, and the first of the new GuAIZs. It's not until the finale, however, that he gains a Gundam, in the form of the Providence.
• Mighty Glacier: The Providence is pretty bulky and thus not as agile when compared to the Freedom and Justice, but not only was it originally meant for close combat, but the DRAGOON Attack Drones move with enough speed to counterbalance this defect, and as his sword fight with Mu and Kira shows, the suit's still quick where it counts.
• Misanthrope Supreme: Firmly believes that Humans Are Bastards, and therefore, need to die.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In SEED. At Alaska, Rau tipped off Mu to the Cyclops System; Mu promptly went running to save the Archangel crew. Without Le Creuset, they would have been painfully vaporized. What keeps this from being straightforward is Rau later saying "I dearly hope the legged ship will make it out," meaning he wasn't just taunting Mu about a horrific realization, but did it deliberately.
• Omnicidal Maniac: His life, such as it is, has left him thoroughly convinced that we've all got to go. He may only be trying to Kill All Humans, but it's quite omnicidal in context.
• Parental Abandonment: Briefly hinted at in SEED; brought up explicitly in the adaptations.
• Pet the Dog: Rau can be very understanding and an effective mentor when he wants to be. It may be argued he did this out of pragmatism in SEED but his treatment of Rey is definitively genuine. Perhaps this is Rau's own way of not being like Al who was an abusive and uncaring person.
  • He's kinder, more appreciative, and more understanding to Athrun than Patrick Zala is, and saves both Yzak's and Flay's lives in the battle of JOSH-A, even managing to restore Flay's equilibrium to a point where she's more stable than she ever was on the Archangel. Subverted when he nonchalantly shoots her escape shuttle just to cause Kira grief, though it's unclear if he noticed she was inside the shuttle.
  • His interaction with Rey is a retroactive example of this, and helps to humanize him more.
• The Philosopher: See Straw Nihilist + Breaking Speech + Establishing Character Moment.
• Playing Both Sides: Sells information to the Earth Alliance while acting as one of ZAFT's top commanders.
• Posthumous Character: In SEED Destiny, his influence on the plot is pretty significant.
• Predecessor Villain: The Big Bad and Man Behind the Man of SEED, he ends up having a significant influence on the Big Bad of SEED Destiny.
• Pretty Boy: Despite wearing a mask, Rau's visible physical traits point to him being quite a handsome man. The one and only time his face is fully revealed is in the Special Edition and HD Remaster of SEED during his confrontation with Mu and Kira within the Mendel Colony laboratory.
• Promotion to Parent: Given how Rau found Rey, rescued him, reassured him, seemingly gave him a Significant Wardrobe Shift to a Nice Suit, and is shown hand-in-hand with him, sitting with him, taking him to visit Durandal, and letting him play the piano, he was apparently this to his sibling.
• Rage Against the Reflection: Catching sight of his reflection is enough to send Le Creuset into a murderous breakdown. Seeing the face of the man you hate most does that kind of thing to you.
• Red Is Heroic: Before he became the Villain in a White Suit from SEED, Rau wore what's either the precursor to the modern ZAFT redcoat model. He did it while rescuing a child and attempting to Give Him a Normal Life. It's played with in that he is clearly meant as a Shout-Out to the original Gundam Malevolent Masked Man, Red Is Violent Char Aznable (who is played by Durandal's seiyuu Shūichi Ikeda). Almost as big a surprise as finally seeing his face, considering he was originally so carefully Color-Coded for Your Convenience.
• Rescue Introduction:
  • With Flay in SEED. Since the choice was "bring her" or "leave her to die", it's not really a kidnapping. Despite still being quite afraid, her time with ZAFT is the first time in the entire show Flay begins to show things like calm, propriety, and concern for others, as well as getting over the worst of her Fantastic Racism, so it doubles as an emotional rescue. Even Rau being responsible for her death doesn't change the fact that without him, she would have been equally dead without having accomplished anything.
  • With Rey before SEED Destiny. Rau found him and freed him when he was a much smaller child from some unspecified very dark past. It also gives some more context to his above-mentioned saving of Flay at Alaska in SEED.
• The Resenter: Towards La Flaga, Kira, and the entire human race.
• The Reveal: His face is finally revealed during one of Durandal's flashbacks in SEED Destiny, and again at the end of Final Plus. There was nothing wrong with him either time, by the way.
• The Rival: To Mu at first, though Kira gets added eventually.
• Sanity Slippage: In the last six episodes of SEED.
• Self-Made Orphan: His flashbacks rather heavily imply that the fire that burned down Al Da Flaga's home was not an accident.
• Shout-Out: Given how he interacts with the original, his murky relationship with and potential betrayal of Durandal, surprise red uniform, and a younger sibling with a Strong Family Resemblance and vastly different personality and goals are all meant to reference Char Aznable, even more so than his original Char Clone status. Part of the many, many Mobile Suit Gundam Mythology Gags in SEED Destiny.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Rey is The Quiet One and an Ice King; Rau's a flamboyant dramatist with a lot more experience in the world and a definite desire to do particular people a good bit of harm. Contrast the way they both treat Athrun over his Kira issues, or Rau's disagreements and debates with Durandal with Rey's Hero Worship of Durandal. Even Rey's persistently straight hair with Rau's very wavy look — basically, the similarities between them are far outweighed by the differences.
• Smart People Play Chess: Definitely one of the smartest people in SEED, and as his flashbacks in SEED Destiny demonstrate, he was capable of checkmating Durandal, both literally and philosophically.
• Special Ability Shield: The Providence's kite shield houses a twin barrel beam gun and can ignite a large beam saber. The shields for Rau's CGUE and GuAIZ are equipped with a Gatling gun and a twin beam claw, respectively.
• Stepford Smiler: Rau's as polite and concerned as they come. While he does give frequent vent to his internal pain and dark side, it's hard to know just how much he's really screaming unless you are Mu and Kira and trapped in a creepy lab. Lampshaded by this, when he goes from full-throttle rage and breakdown to smiling at Flay, in seconds, and earlier, when he goes from full physical breakdown to speaking pleasantly on the phone with Patrick, almost instantly.
• Straw Nihilist: It's complicated. His life has more or less convinced him that all existence is fundamentally meaningless, but he still sees that there are virtues in humanity such as kindness and loyalty. However, as would be shown in the sequel, Rau's disappointment in and hatred of humanity kept increasing because they kept proving his worldview correct until he decided to do something about it.
  • Subverted in SEED Destiny, with the subversion even lampshaded by Rau. Le Creuset's philosophical beef was never that there was no point at all to life or that goodness didn't matter, just that the value of goodness is lost on humanity as they keep defaulting to making hateful and destructive choices.
    Durandal: "So you're saying there's no point?"
    Rau: "No, that's not what I'm saying."
• Stronger Sibling: Inverted. He was far more dangerous than Rey, and continues to influence both him and Durandal.
• Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: He wants to die, but he wants everybody else to go first.
• Talking Your Way Out: Flay is once again pointing a gun at his head. Rau coolly shrugs it off, points out she'll die if she does do it, points out she's not really living much at the moment anyway and she could just use it on herself if she's so eager, questions whether it's even loaded, and finishes breaking her by gently and correctly pointing out that she's not really a soldier (so guns and killing aren't really her thing). It's so effective, it not only keeps him alive, her attitude begins to improve afterwards.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Tall blonde and snarky anyway.
• 13 Is Unlucky: The ZGMF-X13A Providence.
• The Unfettered: He wishes for the extinction of the human race, and manipulates both sides of the war to do so.
• The Unreveal: Done in the televised show whenever he's shown maskless, even when the protagonists get to see his face. Even in the Compilation Movie of SEED, his face is only ever shown in one shot, and for just a few seconds at that. There isn't even anything odd about his face, which is the point. He only wears the mask to cover the face of the man he was cloned from, the man he despises most in the world.
• Villain Has a Point: His belief that Humans Are Bastards and that it is In Your Nature to Destroy Yourselves is a bit hard to argue against when people like Azrael and Patrick Zala are in charge and their endgames are so widely supported by their own sides.
• Villainous Breakdown: Inverted. Previously calm and collected, Le Creuset suffers from some serious Sanity Slippage in the final episodes of SEED, due to his belief that his plan has succeeded. After all, if it's all going to end, why pretend to be sane anymore? It's also implied that his degeneration is causing him to break down biologically.
• Villainous Friendship: Seemingly has one with Durandal. How much of it was genuine is up for debate.
• Villainous Legacy: Rau's actions in "SEED" continue to drive the plot of Destiny through his friendship with Durandal and Rey. Rau and Durandal debated philosophy and the nature of mankind influences Durandal and his 'Destiny Plan'. Kira battles with the PTSD he induced for much of Destiny.
• Villain in a White Suit: His uniform is white, he flies pale mobile suits and there's something very off about him.
• White Mask of Doom: That white mask doesn't signify anything good.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Le Creuset's been hurt so badly that he's convinced that we all gotta go.
• Would Hurt a Child: One of his final acts of SEED is to shoot the escape ship that has Flay, a teenage girl. Trying to kill Kira, Lacus or Dearka also counts.
• Younger Than They Look: Quite possibly. We don't know how much his condition has sped up his aging and maturation.

Fredrik Ades

Voiced by: Yasuhiko Kawazu (Japanese); Michael Dobson [Ocean dub], Ray Chase [NYAV Post dub] (English)

The captain of the Vesalius, Ades is Le Creuset's right-hand man and a capable officer in his own right. Sometimes taken aback by Le Creuset's penchant for acting without orders, Ades nevertheless follows his superior's instructions loyally. Despite his secondary role on the ship, he seems to command the respect of the Le Creuset team's pilots.

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• The Captain: She serves as the captain of the Vesalius.
• Commissar Cap: Never seen without it.
• Face Death with Dignity: Stands on the bridge, saluting Athrun, Yzak, and Dearka as the Vesalius is engulfed in flames in the last act of SEED.
• Going Down with the Ship: Stays aboard the Vesalius while the rest of his men make their escape.
• The Good Captain: Ades seems like a pretty good guy, despite who he's working for, and gets along well enough with his crew.
• Number Two: Ades may command the ship, but it's Le Creuset who determines how the missions progress.

Team Members

Athrun Zala

See his entry on the ''SEED'' main characters page

Yzak Joule

Main mecha: GAT-X102 Duel Gundam (SEED), ZGMF-1001/K Slash ZAKU Phantom (blue) (SEED Destiny), ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited (white) (SEED Destiny), ZGMF-1027M Duel Blitz Gundam (SEED Freedom)

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese); Michael Adamthwaite [Ocean dub], Daman Mills [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Yzak in SEED Freedom

^{Click here to see Yzak in SEED
Click here to see Yzak in SEED Destiny}

"Come out and fight, Strike! Or else this pain I feel will never go away!"

"Dearka and me? We probably should have died a long time ago."

A member of the Le Creuset team in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, he's the most bloodthirsty and callous of the group. He has little respect for anyone he considers weak, and absolutely zero respect for Naturals as a consequence. He's close friends with Dearka, who shares many of his views, and has a developing rivalry with Athrun. He has no particular hate for the Earth Alliance (just contempt) until he's wounded during a battle with the Strike. After the resulting scarring, he develops a massive hate-on for Kira. Extremely temperamental and impulsive, he's the member of the group most loyal to ZAFT as a whole and Le Creuset personally.

A member of the Le Creuset Team along with Athrun and Dearka in the first Bloody Valentine war, he was the only member of the team to remain loyal to ZAFT throughout the conflict. In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Yzak is commanding his own forces as a Whitecoat, he does his best to defend the PLANTs without repeating the mistakes of his past. A relatively minor character in most of SEED Destiny, he spends most of the series Out of Focus.

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• Ace Custom: In SEED Destiny, he pilots a custom-colored blue Slash ZAKU Phantom. Then there's his white GOUF Ignited which he pilots at the second war's last moments.
• Ace Pilot: Understated, but Yzak remains one of the best pilots in whole series (mostly held back by his lack of Bigger Stick), particularly following the finale of SEED. Still one of the best ZAFT pilots in the sequels.
• Always Second Best: Back in his days in the military academy, he was this to Athrun. Implied to be the root of his hostility to him.
• Anti-Villain: He's a Jerkass, but his worst Kick the Dog moments aren't intentional, and he does really care about his friends.
• Armour Is Useless: Averted. The Armour Shroud saves Yzak's life during his final run-in with Shani Andras.
• The Atoner: Not a full-fledged example in SEED Destiny, but he's definitely trying to make up for his mistakes from SEED, two years ago. He and other young soldiers were tried for war crimes committed during that war, with Yzak charged for shooting down a ship of fleeing civilians that he mistook for fleeing soldiers. Gilbert Durandal spoke in his defense, arguing to the tribunal that the soldiers' mistakes during the war were due to their youthfulness while fighting a war that adults began. Yzak was thus acquitted by the jury along with Dearka, and remained in the military to make a positive difference for all his fallen comrades as well as all the people of the PLANTs, if his second quote above isn't evidence enough.
• Bash Brothers: With Dearka. In SEED Destiny, also with Athrun whenever the three meetup on the battlefield.
• Big Damn Heroes: He and Dearka do this a couple of times in SEED Destiny, the most notable being their last minute Heel–Face Turn and attack on the Requiem.
• The Brute: Of Le Creuset's Five-Man Band: he's the most aggressive and bloodthirsty of the team.
• Casting Gag: Tomokazu Seki previously voiced an equally Hot-Blooded and competitive character in G Gundam's Domon Kasshu. Perhaps he's just pissed at not being The Protagonist this time.
• Character Development: Compare the suicidally Hot-Blooded Yzak of SEED to the much more mature Yzak of SEED Destiny.
• Close-Range Combatant:
  • Subverted in SEED. The Duel is spec-wise a Master of None, but Yzak's headstrong and aggressive nature means it sees a lot of melee action and was the most prone to engaging the Strike in beam saber-to-beam saber combat early on. After acquiring the Assault Shroud, which gave it far more weapon options, the Duel primarily shifted to mid-range combat until purging the armor in the Final Battle of SEED.
  • Both his Slash ZAKU Phantom and GOUF Ignited in SEED Destiny are geared towards close quarters combat.
• Commanding Coolness: In SEED Destiny, it's "Commander Joule".
• Costume Evolution: After wearing a white version of the standard ZAFT pilot suit in SEED Destiny, he now wears a white variation of the Minerva crew's pilot suits in SEED Freedom.
• Demoted to Extra: Receives much less screentime in SEED Destiny than he did in SEED. Ironically, he's actually promoted In-Universe.
• Disappeared Dad: In line with the rest of the Supreme Council kids (except Nicol and Athrun), we only see one parent. We never see his father, and he's never mentioned.
• The Dragon: To Le Creuset in SEED, following Athrun and Dearka's defections.
• Dual Wielding: Didn't engage in this as often as one might think, but when he does, hoo boy, Yzak is beast.
• Due to the Dead: Yzak's new Gundam in SEED Freedom is a Fusion Dance variant of the Duel and Nicol's Blitz, aptly called the Duel Blitz Gundam. Since Yzak still remembers the late Nicol, the Duel Blitz's overall design does make sense.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: Though he remains loyal to ZAFT for the longest of the Gundam pilots he starts growing disillusioned and horrified by ZAFT's increasing fanaticism and genocidal intent as early as the Battle of Port Panama in SEED. In the Final Battle of SEED, he eventually chooses to aid the Three Ships Alliance and starts fighting alongside Kira and Dearka rather than with ZAFT. He even defends the Archangel when everyone else is either incapacitated or pre-occupied.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While not very high standards, he still has them. He is ok with shooting down a fleeing enemy shuttle (after all, the enemy that runs away will come back to fight you another day), but shooting down the enemy when they are helpless and trying to surrender? That makes him frown.
  • He eventually drops the evil part all together the moment he sees the GENESIS fire for the first time. The obvious non-answer he gets from his mother when he asks her what the next target will be makes it clear he's just as horrified as the Three Ship Alliance about the thing.
• Fantastic Racism: Probably the most racist of the Le Creuset team at the beginning, but starts to grow out of this near the end, especially after Dearka's defection. It starts with him being disgusted by his comrades gleefully gunning down the surrendering OMNI soldiers.
• Gatling Good: Again, on his ZAKU with its "Hydra" Gatling Beam Cannon.
• Give Me a Sword: Actually, Give Me A Gun. In the Final Battle of SEED, Yzak loses his beam rifle while protecting the disabled Buster and Dearka from a completely manic Clotho. Just as the Raider closes in to finish them both, Yzak grabs the Buster's BFG and, just under the wire, puts the crazed pre-Extended out of his misery.
  Yzak: Gimme that damn thing!
• Good is Not Nice: Insulting Clyne's faction while coming to their rescue at the end of SEED Destiny. Dearka had to stop him speaking, because they were mistaking him for an enemy.
• Grenade Launcher: The Duel's beam rifle has a single-shot grenade under the barrel.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He can go from calm to extremely angry at even the slightest provocation. He starts calming down after the Battle of Panama of SEED shows him the cost of war.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • He eventually aids the Three Ships Alliance to initially take down the Earth Alliance forces in the final battle of SEED. He then decides to continue defending the Archangel when there's no one else left to do so, as it has become clear that ZAFT have every intention to use GENESIS on Earth.
  • During the finale of SEED Destiny with Dearka they both deploy on their own to the battle and orders the rest of his squad to leave the fight, only to promptly join Athrun and Kira in wrecking Requiem. Though one could say they were always on the side of their old friends and simply were never in a position to join up with them until then. Yzak at least is notably annoyed at having to be in conflict with ZAFT but Durandal's actions and the position they'd placed ZAFT in had been rubbing him the wrong way for quite a while.
• Heel Realization: Twice in SEED.
  • During the Battle of Porta Panama, he begins having doubts regarding ZAFT's cause when he witnesses several of his subordinates ruthlessly massacre surrendering Earth Alliance soldiers.
  • During his encounter with Dearka again in the Mendel Space Colony, Dearka gives Yzak an Armor-Piercing Response that plants further doubts into his mind. So much so, that Yzak, despite having learned his former friend had apparently turned traitor, refused to shoot his former comrade or take him into captivity and simply let Dearka go.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Dearka. This gets sorely tested after Dearka defects in SEED and Yzak finds out, but endures and stays that way by the time of SEED Freedom.
• Hidden Depths: The Housenka MSV manga indicates that Yzak has a degree of Mobile Suit engineering knowledge that he can tell between combat-ready mechanics and blueprints that are better suited for R&D.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Much of his attitude towards the rest of the team is this, especially as the show progresses.
• Hot-Blooded: Of a particularly vicious sort.
• How Dare You Die on Me!: Towards Nicol. Despite not having much respect towards him, he is still outraged that his comrade was killed.
• It's Personal: He develops a vendetta against Kira and the Strike after both damage his Duel in a way that injures his face, leaving a nasty scar.
• Keeping the Handicap: He gets a rather nasty scar fighting against Kira and swears to keep it until he defeats the Strike Gundam.
• Kick the Dog: He has a few, such as mocking Nicol as a coward early in SEED. His biggest is undoubtedly when he destroys a shuttle full of refugees during atmospheric reentry for being in his way, though in his (partial) defense, he didn't know it was filled with civilians. Word of God is that he was horrified when he learned the truth.
• Lightning Lash: His GOUF has a heat whip that can also be electrified.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The Duel features a shield. Yzak's not a big fan of it but it saves his life during his encounter with Shani.
• Meaningful Echo: In SEED Destiny, Yzak argues that Athrun should come back to the PLANTs and rejoin the military, saying "You have the ability. Why not put it to use?" These are the same words that Earth Alliance soldier Mu La Flaga said to Kira Yamato when trying to convince the latter to pilot a mobile suit in order to defend the lives of his friends.
• Magnetic Weapons: The railgun attach on the Duel's shoulder. Astray supplementary material reveals that the Duel was also suppose to be equipped with a 350mm "Gáe Bulg" Rail Bazooka, but this weapon was taken from it during the Heliopolis raid and ends up being used by the Astray Gold Frame.
• Master of None: The Duel Gundam has no specialized features and is the most ill-equipped of the GAT units because of it. ZAFT developed the Assault Shroud to help improve its performance.
• Mecha Expansion Pack: The Duel is later equipped with an "Assault Shroud" armor that greatly increases its combat versatility. The Duel Blitz's outer armor functions identical to the "Assault Shroud" as it houses the original Duel Gundam underneath rather than being a part of the Gundam like the Blu Duel Gundam.
• Mighty Glacier: Subverted in space as the Assault Shroud has more than enough thrusters to retain its mobility. Under the Earth's gravity, the Assault Shroud gives the Duel more weapons and protection at the expense of a sheer decrease in durability. Before the Duel's OS was upgraded to function on sand, it was helpless against armored vehicles with missiles.
• Military Brat: His mother Ezalia is a member of the PLANT Supreme Council in SEED. In SEED Destiny however, Ezalia was a member of the PLANT supreme council, she and the rest of Chairman Zala's power base were arrested at the end of the last war. Yzak himself has been trying to keep her at arms length since then.
• Mistaken for Gay: Information from Fukuda indicate that ZAFT soldiers in-universe think that Yzak may be gay for a supposed disdain for women.
• Murder by Mistake: The reason behind his biggest Kick the Dog moment in SEED. He thought the military shuttle he shot down was filled with fleeing OMNI personnel, not civilians.
• My Beloved Smother: To a slight degree, though mostly justified by the fact that the few interactions we see between them is just after Yzak has returned from the front lines and will be heading back into combat soon.
• Older and Wiser: One of the best examples between SEED and SEED Destiny.
• Pet the Dog: His reaction to Nicol's death helps to humanize him. He later yells at the Freedom and the Justice to get out of the way of GENESIS's blast.
• Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: He keeps his disfiguring facial scar to remind himself of his need for revenge on the Strike and its pilot.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's certainly picked up some of his mom's Fantastic Racism. Unlike Ezalia, however, Yzak's manifests more as contempt for the Naturals than out-and-out hatred, and when he finds out about the Final Solution she and Patrick Zala have cooked up, he's less than happy.
• Pragmatic Villainy: A possible interpretation of his Even Evil Has Standards. After all, if you kill surrendering enemies, the rest will fight to the death, making your job much harder and costing you more casualties.
• Rank Up: Yzak was confirmed to be a Lieutenant-Commander at the end of SEED Destiny, but has now become a Commander in SEED Freedom.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: In SEED Destiny, he has a very sound judgment befitting of a commander.
• Redemption Earns Life: In SEED Destiny.
• Redemption Promotion: Since returning to ZAFT he's achieved the rank of "commander" in ''SEED Destiny', which, with ZAFT being a loosely-organized militia, means he's more or less an admiral.
• Screaming Warrior: Most often, epic instance when he defeats Shani.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: After immediately ejecting the Assault Shroud in the Final Battle, the Duel was able to disarm and impale the Forbidden before Shani even had a chance to react.
• Shoulder Cannon: The Duel's AS armor adds a missile launcher on the left shoulder and a railgun on the right shoulder.
• Sociopathic Soldier: A borderline Type I. He Took a Level in Kindness by the end.
• Sole Survivor: Not Yzak personally but his Duel Gundam at the end of SEED, being the only one of the five original Gundams still operational by the end of the war, while the other four are either out of commission (the Buster) or destroyed outright (the Blitz, Aegis and Strike).
• Sour Supporter: Of Athrun in SEED. He hates the guy's guts, but he did accept Athrun's transfer to a more elite unit after defeating the Strike with an approving, if begrudging, handshake.
• Spanner in the Works: Leads a sizeable chunk of the ZAFT fleet over to Lacus during the finale of SEED Destiny.
• Super Prototype: Averted with Duel, the first of the GAT-X Gundam's designed it's also by far the weakest being nothing more than a bare bones Mobile Suit with basic weapons without any special weapons or features because as the first one built it was mostly a test bed to see if things like Beam weaponry and Phase Shift armor worked properly before getting to work on the more advanced ones. It was to be deployed anyway because as the Earth Alliance had no Mobile Suits at the time, 5 Gundam's was better than 4, even if one of them was significatly weaker than the others and it still highly outclassed anything ZAFT had at the time. Even after ZAFT steals it they still put it into battle because it was still better than anything else they could have given Yzak at the time. If not for the fact that the Strike remained in Alliance hands then nothing they had could have put up a fight anyway.
• Teens Are Monsters: Early on, before he realizes the true horrors of war.
• Those Two Guys: Him and Dearka to Athrun in SEED Destiny with his loud retorts and Dearka's snark.
• Took a Level in Badass: A Fusion Dance variant with the Duel Blitz in SEED Freedom, who is basically an upgraded Duel Gundam with Blitz's weapons such as the Lancer Dart launcher and a variant of the Gleipnir.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Seeing the horrors of war at the Battle of Panama shocks Yzak, at which point he starts noticeably calming down. Despite remaining loyal to ZAFT for most of SEED he becomes far less hotheaded and impulsive, reacting to problems with annoyance rather than the outbursts that he was known for earlier in the series.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The Joule Team's command roster in SEED Destiny consists of himself, Dearka, and Shiho.
• Unknown Rival: To both Athrun and Kira. The former seems to be unaware that Yzak heckles him out of jealousy, the latter knows him only as the pilot of the Duel.
• Use Your Head: Had the Duel headbutt the Freedom once.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: His Character Development turned him into this with Athrun, often sounding rude while still ensuring his wellbeing overall. "Athrun, you bastard, what are you doing here?!" seems to have become his standard greeting in SEED Destiny.
• Weak, but Skilled: Played with: The Duel on paper looks like the lowest-spec Gundam in the series, lacking any special role (Artillery, Stealth, Agility, Multi-Role), and its normal weaponry is basically the Aile Strike minus the maneuverability boost. However, the lack of gimmicks is due to the fact that it's the first of the Gundams ever produced, and is in fact SEED's version of the RX-78-2, and as a result of lacking special features and being a testbed for the other 4 suits, it both carries no weaknesses overall and is incredibly physically powerful in comparison to its siblings. ^note And the reason for it's limited armaments? It's main weapon (an incredibly powerful bazooka) was stolen by the pilot of the Gold Frame (who fired the aforementioned bazooka and not only tore open a hole in the colony, but tore off the Gold Frame's right arm in the process. Note this is something the Duel is built to be able to withstand firing repeatedly). And when the unit is upgraded with extra armor, it barely gets slowed down by the excess weight. Despite that it's clearly outclassed by its sibling units and becomes woefully underpowered during the course of the series, Yzak gives Kira no end of trouble in the first half of SEED, and takes out two of the Alliance's Super Soldiers (the very same ones that could fight Kira and Athrun on even footing). The Duel eventually becomes the only one of the original five Gundams to survive the war in one piece. As for Yzak himself, he is always given the short end of the stick when it comes to machines such as the Duel Gundam (as explained above) and in Destiny where he is relegated to Ace Custom machines rather than receiving anything special. Not that it hampers him from being an effective pilot as he easily takes down the Second Stages with his Slash ZAKU Phantom.
• White Hair, Black Heart: He's got star-white hair and easily the most brutish member of the Le Creuset team. However, he lighten up and gain more sympathy for all sides as the war progesses.

Dearka Elsman

Main mecha: GAT-X103 Buster Gundam (SEED), ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior (green - original series, black - HD Remaster) (SEED Destiny), ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom (black) (SEED Destiny), ZGMF-103HD Lightning Buster Gundam (SEED Freedom)

Voiced by: Akira Sasanuma (Japanese); Brad Swaile [Ocean dub], Johnny Yong Bosch [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Dearka in SEED Freedom

^{Click here to see Dearka in SEED
Click here to see Dearka in SEED Destiny}

A member of Athrun's team in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, he, along with Yzak Joule, formed the crueler half of the foursome. Nearly constantly snarky and condescending, Dearka still often has to act as his more impulsive best friend Yzak's conscience. An artilleryman at heart, he prefers to engage his opponents at range, while mocking their inability to touch him.

Another veteran of the Le Creuset Team, he defected to the Three Ships Alliance near the end of the first Bloody Valentine war. Though accepted back into ZAFT in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, he was stripped of his red coat, and now acts as Yzak's Number Two. Like Yzak, he's only a minor character in SEED Destiny, remaining mostly Out of Focus.

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• Ace Custom: In SEED Destiny, he pilots a black Blaze ZAKU Phantom as the second war was reaching its last moments. He also goes out in a black Gunner ZAKU Warrior in the Remaster.
• Ace Pilot: One of the best pilots of ZAFT since the first war.
• Ambiguously Brown: We don't see Dearka's mom, and as a second-gen Coordinator he wouldn't have been deliberately engineered. We can presume she's a dark-skinned blonde like him, since all his colleagues seem to resemble their mothers, but his dad Tad is unambiguously white.
• Anti-Villain: Like the rest of his team in SEED. His main problem seems to be that he's forgotten that Naturals are people too. When he's reminded of this, he makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Bash Brothers: He and Yzak display exemplary teamwork when the two are in combat together. In SEED Destiny, whenever their old friend Athrun happens to join them, the trio is virtually unbeatable. Dearka has shades of this when he fights alongside Mu in the Strike Gundam in late SEED.
• BFG:
  • The Buster is an artillery mech after all.
  • He uses the Gunner model for his ZAKU, which matches his experience with the BFG-wielding Buster in SEED.
  • The Lightning Buster is also an artillery mech which can combine with the METEOR packs to gain even bigger BFGs.
• Big Damn Heroes: His and Yzak's Heel–Face Turn and attack on the Requiem at the end of SEED Destiny.
• The Brute: He shares this role with Yzak in Le Creuset's Five-Man Band (although he's more cocky rather than temperamental). He later becomes the heroic version in the Three Ships Alliance at the end of SEED where he has the tough and powerful Buster Gundam along with being the tallest teenager in the Three Ships Alliance. With his BFG and heavily armoured mecha, Dearka is set to do some serious damage.
• Combo Rifle: The Buster Gundam is equipped with a beam rifle and a railgun, either of which can be powered up by plugging the other gun into its back — the beam rifle becoming a beam Sniper Rifle and the railgun becoming an anti-armor shotgun.
• The Consigliere: Dearka's common sense does a lot to tone down Yzak's Hot Bloodedness. Yzak needs it.
• Costume Evolution: After wearing the standard green ZAFT pilot suit in SEED Destiny, he now wears a black variation of the Minerva crew's pilot suits in SEED Freedom.
• Deadpan Snarker: Unfailingly surly and sarcastic, especially early on. He's still this after his Heel–Face Turn but it loses its edge and continues to do so in SEED Destiny.
• Demoted to Extra: Receives much less screentime in SEED Destiny than he did in SEED. In the literal sense, he had went from a ZAFT red elite to a common green-garbed foot soldier.
• Did Not Think This Through: Makes a cruel jibe about a boyfriend dying in war in front of Miriallia, whom he'd already specified was "always crying", without bothering to think that she might not be stable or what came out of his mouth might be true.
• Endearingly Dorky: Surprisingly enough for such an abrasive jerk. Once he and Miriallia become more cordial with each other he awkwardly stutters whenever he's around her. It seems all of Dearka's time in the military left him unsure of how to deal with girls.
• Everyone Has Standards: When he realizes that Miriallia's boyfriend had just died even he's rather ashamed at how tasteless his crack about the "stupid Natural getting himself killed" was.
• Fantastic Racism: He and Yzak were the blatantly racist ones of the Le Creuset team, though compared to his friend, Dearka seemed to have just forgotten that Naturals are people too. He starts to realize this after Mirillia's Freak Out.
• Heel–Face Turn:
  • He joins Athrun in his desertion of ZAFT just before the final act of SEED, having similar doubts about ZAFT when he's told what they've been up to.
  • Like Yzak in the finale of SEED Destiny and like him, one could say he was really always on the Clyne Faction's side all along. Unlike Yzak, Dearka is all too eager to change sides (of course, unlike Yzak, he's done it before) and expresses mild annoyance that the Clyne Faction hadn't called on them to jump ship earlier.
• Heel Realization: Seeing Miriallia's Freak Out in SEED followed by her saving him from Flay makes him realize what a tool he had been and that he doesn't really know what he's fighting for.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Yzak. They even go about Like an Old Married Couple.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: It wasn't Dearka fighting on the front lines that almost got him killed, it was his tasteless manners, inability to keep his mouth shut, and disregard for other people.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Yzak.
• Jerk Jock: With his high opinion of himself, low opinion of everyone else, willingness to make fun of everything, and tight partnership with fellow "mean guy" Yzak, was basically this before his Heel–Face Turn in SEED.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's pretty nasty until he almost dies not in battle, but in enemy captivity as a direct result of his big mouth. Then he gets better.
• The Lancer: He is officially Yzak's Number Two since SEED Destiny.
• Long-Range Fighter: The Buster is basically a blunt instrument. It can obliterate opponents from a distance with its powerful long range arsenal but as it lacks any kind of melee weapon it suffers in close quarters combat or direct engagement with other mobile suits.. Dearka continues to specialize in long range combat in SEED Destiny.
• A Match Made in Stockholm: His relationship with Miriallia in SEED has shades of this. She tried to stab him with a knife, but then seconds later had a My God, What Have I Done? and saved him from getting shot by Flay. Once Dearka makes it clear that he wasn't the one who killed Tolle, they start warming up to each other.
• Mighty Glacier: With the heavily armored, heavily armed, but slow-moving Buster, which often makes him an easy target for Mu in his more mobile Moebius Zero and Skygrasper.
• Military Brat: His father is a member of the ZAFT Supreme Council in SEED.
• Offscreen Breakup: With Miriallia, before SEED Destiny began.
• Oh, Crap!: When Miriallia almost stabs him when he's restrained, also when Rau turns all of the Providence's cannons on the Buster in the Final Battle of SEED. He lives through both, despite the Buster's extensive damage.
• Older and Wiser: By the time of SEED Destiny, he's two years older and wiser about the horrors of war, even getting appalled by the Requiem cannon's destructive capabilities to the point of wanting to destroy it. During the final battle of the Requiem cannon, he prompts Yzak to lead his team over to Lacus to destroy said cannon.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: He has a hard time reading the situation and knowing when to keep his mouth shut. It nearly gets him killed when he unknowingly insults the recently-deceased Tolle in front of a grieving and unstable Miriallia, prompting her to attack him with a surgical knife.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Though his racism largely extends to agreeing with Yzak's remarks. Once he meets some Naturals he starts to get over it.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: After losing the worst of his racism.
• Redemption Demotion: Due to his defection at the end of SEED, he was demoted from an elite red coat to a mere common soldier green coat in SEED Destiny. This is mitigated by his status as Yzak's Number Two, which means he effectively holds a much higher rank than he previously did. He did not even get to use a ZAKU Phantom at the start and was given the regular foot soldier version, the ZAKU Warrior. The HD Remaster downplays the ZAKU Warrior part where he gets to give it custom colours which is reserved for ace pilots, although this is played straight in the original broadcast where it has the common green colouring. The credits for Final Plus and the HD Remaster's final episode feature him in a black uniform, implying he got promoted after the war's end. Averted in Freedom where like the best pilots of Compass, Dearka busted out an upgraded version of the Buster instead of an Ace Custom.
• Shoulder Cannon: The Buster has missile launchers on its shoulders.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: In SEED, Dearka starts off as a Smug Super ZAFT soldier in his elite red coat uniform. Once he is captured by the Archangel and kept as a POW, he is left only in his singlet and simple pants where conversations with Naturals help humanize and humble him. When he joins the Three Ships Alliance, he wears a burnt orange jacket worn by Orb staff like Erica Simmons and is firmly an ally to the protagonists. The outfit changes In-Universe were justified as Dearka was captured and did not get an opportunity to get his ZAFT uniform back, unlike Athrun.
• Spanner in the Works: Convinces Yzak to pull their second above-mentioned Heel–Face Turn in SEED Destiny.
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: He's one of the tallest characters on Athrun's initial team and one of the tallest teen-aged characters. He's also always got a quip ready.
• Those Two Guys: Him and Yzak to Athrun in SEED Destiny due to their occasional knack for verbal comical banter with Dearka's snark and Yzak's loud retorts.
• Took a Level in Badass: Finally gets a real upgrade in the form of the Lightning Buster in SEED Freedom where it is nuclear powered and is compatible with the METEOR.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He starts the series as a condescending racist Jerk Jock, but after becoming a prisoner of war on the Archangel and forming friendships with its crew at the end of SEED, he softens up significantly.
• Two Guys and a Girl: He, Yzak, and Shiho are the folks calling the shots in Yzak's team in SEED Destiny.
• The Unfought: Never fights Kira one-on-one.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: One possible interpretation of his relationship with Miriallia post-Heel–Face Turn.

Nicol Amalfi

Main mecha: GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam

Voiced by: Mami Matsui [series], Romi Park [Compilation Movies] (Japanese); Gabe Khouth [Ocean dub], Casey Mongillo [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"Mother... my piano..."

The youngest and most sensitive member of the Le Creuset Team in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. He looks up to Athrun, but is often bullied by Dearka and (especially) Yzak. He pilots the Blitz, and pulls his weight in combat despite the fact that he's not as skilled as the rest of the team. A genuinely Nice Guy, Nicol's only real character flaw seems to be his belief in My Country, Right or Wrong.

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• Anti-Villain: More so than the rest of the Le Creuset Team, even.
• Blood from the Mouth: Gets a bad case while being cut in half during the Wham Episode of SEED. Ouch.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Athrun decides that Kira must die after he kills Nicol. Nicol's death also drives his father to bury himself in his work, which results in him completing the N-Jammer Canceler early as well as adopting a radical stance against Naturals alongside Patrick Zala. Inverted for Kira, his Accidental Murder of someone he could figure out was a personal friend of Athrun's was, following their own Duel to the Death, was the final catalyst for him to swear off simply killing, with the exception of megalomaniacs like Rau.
• Demolitions Expert: Implied. Nicol came first in his class for explosives handling.
• Evil Counterpart: Serves a very similar role to Athrun as Tolle does to Kira, though he's not "evil" in any meaningful sense. He's also this to Kira given their very similar temperaments and devotion to their teams and friends.
• Fragile Speedster: Relatively speaking compared to the other G-Project Gundams. The Blitz is quite fast and lighter than the other Gundams except the Duel (without Assault Shroud) and Strike (without the packs) and its Mirage Colloid bolsters its evasive capabilities. Its weakness is that the special shield houses all its weapons except the Gleipnir claw, meaning it cannot defend and fight well simultaneously and it has no high-power weaponry for inflicting heavy damage.
• Genius Bruiser: Between the rest of his teammates, Nicol is easily the most rational and collected. His Gundam, the Blitz, was also constructed specifically to handle special equipment and blitzkrieg tactics that require more strategic thinking and level-mindedness to be effectively utilized.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol: The Blitz is equipped with a large grapple launcher on its left forearm.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: The Sword Strike's sword slices through the Blitz's cockpit and cuts Nicol in half at the waist.
• Heroic Sacrifice: He is killed attempting to draw away the Strike from finishing off Athrun.
• Inertial Impalement: His death in the HD Remaster of SEED is retconned as this; Nicol runs right into the Kira's outstretched anti-ship sword after he evaded Nicol's attempt to spear the Strike.
• Invisibility Cloak: His Gundam's Mirage Colloid system.
• In the Back: Tries it on Kira, it backfires with brutally fatal consequences.
• Irony: The only member of Athrun's group who would have perfectly fit in with the Three Ships Alliance from the beginning is killed before it exists.
• Kill the Cutie: Oh boy, does he qualify as this. It's a particularly gruesome example of it, too.
• Meaningful Name: A somewhat convoluted example. His name comes from an obscure Nintendo Entertainment System game called Ai Senshi Nicol. Ai Senshi is also the title of the second Compilation Movie of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, which features several characters making a Heroic Sacrifice or otherwise dying in the Earth-arc.
• Military Brat: Not only is his father on the Supreme Council, Yuri Amalfi is responsible for the armament and day-to-day details of ZAFT (versus Patrick's general oversight). After Nicol's death, a grieving Yuri tells Athrun he approved things like the N-Jammer Cancellers so Nicol's death wouldn't have been in vain.
• Nice Guy: He lacks Yzak's brutality, Dearka's surly nature, and Athrun's bitterness, generally presented as the most even-tempered, pleasant kid on the team.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Subverted. The Blitz has a red-and-black color scheme with its Phase Shift on, but Nicol is very much an Anti-Villain.
• Sacrificial Lion: The stakes are raised once Nicol dies and it becomes clear that the cast we've been following for almost 30 episodes isn't safe from death anymore.
• The So-Called Coward: Yzak calls him a coward and he's mostly quiet, self-effacing and unsure of himself as well as more reliant on technology than the others, but he soloed Artemis by himself. Yes, he earned that red uniform. Also, only Yzak and Dearka are the ones who call him this anyway.
• Special Ability Shield: Along with protection, the Blitz's shield houses all of its primary weapons: a beam rifle, a beam saber, and three spear missiles. Unfortunately, this means losing it leaves the Blitz nearly helpless with just the Gleipnir.
• Token Good Teammate: He lacks Athrun's cynicism, Dearka's Jerk Jock big mouth, and Yzak's anger issues, making him the only member of the team who's even remotely capable of being objective... but his naivete prevents that. Ironically, he's the only one of the group who doesn't make any kind of Heel–Face Turn and join or assist the Three Ships Alliance, because he's killed mid series a while before that became an option.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: How Athrun thinks of him afterward. Cagalli calls bullshit on him thinking like this, pointing out that it didn't give him carte blanche to kill Kira. Dropping this is the first step to his Character Development.
• Villains Out Shopping: Nicol is an avid piano player and wishes to perform in a symphony one day. It'll never come to pass.

Miguel Aiman

Main mecha: ZGMF-1017 GINN

Voiced by: Takanori Nishikawa (Japanese); Tony Sampson [Ocean dub], Yuri Lowenthal [NYAV Post dub] (English)

A GINN pilot in the Le Creuset Team in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and a senior mentor to Athrun's group of redcoats, Miguel was the first opponent Kira faced and killed.

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• Ace Custom: He has a custom orange GINN that shows up in supplementary material and some of the openings and endings, but he never uses it in the series proper as it was damaged before the anime began.
• Dead Star Walking: His Japanese voice actor, Takanori Nishikawa, is the popular musician T.M. Revolution, so naturally Miguel doesn't last very long. His voice actor in the HD remaster dub, Yuri Lowenthal, is one of the more well known cast members as well.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Miguel comes off as a rather brash and Hot-Blooded antagonist from what little we see of him, but people like Nicol and Athrun sincerely looked up to him and valued his mentorship, and a montage of life on the PLANTs shows his mother and younger brother mourning for him.
• Fantastic Racism: Like Yzak and Dearka, Miguel is pretty contemptuous of Naturals and is in disbelief when he's defeated the first time by the Strike (unaware that its pilot is a Coordinator). When he chooses to battle it again, it's out of avenging wounded pride than anything else. It gets him killed.
• Sacrificial Lamb: We get to know him for three episodes before he dies to show named characters can get killed off in this series.
• The Worf Effect: A retrospective example - he was basically just seen as a run-of-the-mill ZAFT footsoldier when SEED first aired, but expanded material later revealed that Miguel was well-known Ace Pilot in his own right, lauded as the "Magic Bullet of Dusk" for his exceptional marksmanship with his GINN's machine gun and it's custom orange paintjob. His defeat at the hands of Kira demonstrated the sheer power differential between a standard ZAFT machine and a Gundam/G-Weapon.

Rusty Mackenzie

Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi (Japanese); Keith William Miller [Ocean dub], Edward Bosco [NYAV Post] (English)

One of the elite pilots of Athrun's team and Athrun's roommate in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, he only has a few minutes of screen time in the compilation movies as he is killed in the first episode of the series.

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• Boom, Headshot!: He's killed by a gunshot wound to the head.
• The Faceless: He's both this and The Voiceless in the original show, with Athrun only screaming "Rusty!" when he dies. Subverted in the Special Edition compilation movies (and subsequent Remaster), where we do briefly see him prior to the attack on Heliopolis (as well as in things like the Academy graduation picture), and he has a couple of lines.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He goes in with several ZAFT commandos and Athrun's team specifically to steal OMNI's GAT-X units during their raid on Heliopolis, with Rusty being assigned to get the Strike. He only has a few minutes of screen time before being killed in the attack by a colleague of Murrue's; Athrun does avenge his death by quickly killing the same person, however.

Additional Members

Shiho Hahnenfuss

Voiced by: Makiko Ohmoto (Japanese); Annika Odegard [video game] (English)

A ZAFT Redcoat. She was transferred the Le Creuset Team and participated in the Battle of Mendel. After the Le Creuset Team was disbanded, she was transferred to the Joule Team and fights together with Yzak during the Battle of Jachin Due at the conclusion of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. After the war, she returned to the research lab that she worked at before joining ZAFT, but soon rejoined ZAFT and briefly fought in the final battle of the United States of South America's war for independence. She continues to serve under Yzak in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny when he return to the frontlines. She never really interacts with the rest of the cast, and has no dialogue^note until ''SEED Freedom', but can often be seen by Yzak's side. Despite her apparent non-role, she has more major roles in side materials.

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• Ace Pilot: She has a red uniform. On top of that, other materials reveal that she went head-to-head with the OMNI Ace Pilot "Sakura Burst" and fought her to a draw during the Battle of Jachin Due.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Makes an Early-Bird Cameo in SEED HD remaster Episode 41 instead of being introduced in DESTINY proper.
• Adapted Out: Does not get mentioned in the Freedom novels.
• The Cameo: What her role in the anime is reduced to.
• Custom Uniform: Wears a tank top rather than the standard celeste undershirts issued to both male and female soldiers.
• Former Regime Personnel: Left ZAFT after the first war to fight in South America. She was later rehired by Yzak.
• Hidden Depths: Personality aspects of Shiho that are known are that she has good mechanical knowledge with designing weapons and that she used to work at a research facility before joining ZAFT.
• Meet the In-Laws: She felt uncomfortable as Ezalia stared at her intently in SEED Freedom. ^note  According to director Fukuda, this scene was actually a mother-in-law evaluating potential brides for her son.
• New Meat: Was introduced this way in SEED as a new pilot serving in Yzak's unit.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Subverted. Like Heine above, she is a tribute to a Japanese celebrity, in this case Nami Tamaki. However, Tamaki turned down the role, so Shiho's role in the story was rendered almost nonexistent. Ironically, fans suspect that this saved the character's life (given what happened to Heine in SEED Destiny).
  • Not to mention the fact that the other character voiced by a singer in the first series also died a brutal death after just a few episodes (Andy's girlfriend Aisha was voiced by Vivian Hsu, who sang the 2nd opening for SEED), which lends even stronger credence to the theory that Shiho's continued well-being just might be the result of her being The Voiceless.
• Red Baron: Yzak gave her the nickname "Housenka" ("Balsam", or "Touch-Me-Not", in English) as a result of her fighting ability. She uses the image of the plant as her personal symbol.
• Subordinate Excuse: The fans see this as her reason for joining the Joule Team.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The Girl to Yzak and Dearka's Two Guys.
• The Voiceless: In the anime, she has no lines. Until SEED Freedom, where it is finally subverted and she speaks her first word on screen.

Isaac Mau

A ZAFT Greencoat, who was assigned to the Le Creuset Team during the First Alliance-PLANT War and participated in the Battle of Mendel. After the Le Creuset Team was disbanded, he was transferred to the Joule Team. Two years later, after the start of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Isaac was temporarily assigned by Chairman Gilbert Durandal as an observer aboard the Martian ship Acidalium.

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• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Even though he seems like an unreliable person on the team, he is a skilled pilot. In a clash with the Phantom Pain, he was able to take out two skilled enemies at once.
• Multiple Head Case : His mobile suit is an upgraded BuCUE, Kerberos BuCUE Hound.

Waltfeld Team

Andrew Waltfeld

See his entry on the Three Ships Alliance page

Aisha

Main mecha: TMF/A-803 LaGOWE (co-pilot)

Voiced by: Vivian Hsu [series], Fumi Hirano [Compilation Movies] (Japanese); Saffron Henderson [Ocean dub], Michelle Ruff [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"You're taking this rather well. This is difficult for you, isn't it? I can tell you're really fond of him."

Girlfriend of Andrew Waltfeld in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, the Desert Tiger, and a capable gunner in her own right. Just as sympathetic a character as Andy, she's rather friendly toward Kira and Cagalli when they encounter each other.

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• Action Girlfriend: Waltfeld's gunner in their unique two-seater LaGOWE. Aisha isn't even in ZAFT, but she still wants to fight together with the man she loves. She explicitly says that she's okay with dying for it.
• Battle Couple: With Andy, fighting with him in their own mobile suit.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: She has orange streaks in her black hair because Waltfeld is the Desert Tiger.
• Deadpan Snarker: When she's not being sweet and understanding, she's making full use of her snarking abilities. Her best moment is probably her response to Yzak's claim that he and Dearka have more experience against the Strike than she and Waltfeld do.
  Aisha: "Losing experience doesn't count."
• Expy: Just as Andrew is Ranba Ral from Mobile Suit Gundam in all but name and design, Aisha fills the role of Crowley Hamon being his beautiful paramour and close second-in-command, existing largely as an extension of his story and to humanize ZAFT's forces during a desert arc.
• Foreign Fanservice: Subverted. Aisha is played by a non-native Japanese speaker, and looks appropriately 'exotic' as a Coordinator from PLANT ^note Vivian Hsu hails from Taiwan, and mastered Japanese as part of breaking out on the Japanese idol pop scene, big enough to still land this role years later, but the odds of Waltfeld finding a girlfriend who can pilot ZAFT mobile suits in the impoverished desert as opposed to bringing her from home are rather low.
• Hime Cut: Long hair, sidetails and even bangs; yes she looks the trope and her sweet and understanding personality goes along with it.
• Only One Name: If she has one other than "Aisha", we don't hear about it.
• Satellite Character: Her presence in the show revolves entirely around the Tiger.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: Aisha's regular outfit basically cuts out to the bottom of her spine, although no one says anything or even stares.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: The one doing the cleaning; she personally picks out a nice dress and jewelry for Cagalli and re-styles her hair. Waltfeld comments how much the temporary makeover suits her.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: A "natural" Girly Girl, especially when compared to Cagalli, who isn't thrilled to be stuck masquerading as one, although Aisha is so skillful that Cagalli suits her changed look well.

Martin Da Costa

See his entry on the Three Ships Alliance page

Crew of the Minerva

Commanding Officers

Talia Gladys

Voiced by: Mami Koyama (Japanese); Venus Terzo [Ocean dub], Valerie Arem [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"War is a part of politics, in which the whole picture cannot be read."

Captain of the Minerva and Shinn's commanding officer in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Tries very hard to be a fair commander, despite an increasing amount of stress and strain. Later revealed to be an old flame of Durandal's, she remains loyal to ZAFT and PLANT while her doubts continue to escalate.

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• Arranged Marriage: Talia demonstrates some of the problems with PLANT's system of these. She dutifully broke up with Gilbert Durandal before SEED Destiny to enter a Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage (as she said, "following the rules") so that she could have children, and while she does have a son, William, she appears to have cared almost nothing for his father, even after being widowed. Durandal resigned himself to it but never got over it. His relationship with Talia in SEED Destiny is troubled, and his cynicism and obsession with destiny, including the Destiny Plan itself may stem directly from the break-up.
• Authority in Name Only: She battles the Chairman's increasing subversion of her authority right till the end of SEED Destiny, but with little real success, vacillating between rage at much of his later conduct like having two of her subordinates abruptly execute two others (as well as his clear belief she can't do anything except be angry) and exhaustion/resignation towards the finale.
• Benevolent Boss: She's variously temperamental, professional, or introverted, but Talia cares very much about every single one of her subordinates. The versions of the ending from Final Plus of SEED Destiny on at least give her a Say My Name from Athrun before he cripples the Minerva to show he remembers she treated him very decently and that he regrets what everything came to, also making him look like less of an Ungrateful Bastard.
• Broken Bird: Her history with Durandal left her one of the more jaded and resigned of the cast, especially where he's concerned.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Downplayed, but she stares at Arthur multiple times in the last part of the show without ever telling him anything or having any kind of conversation or resolution.
• Casting Gag: Koyama's role as Kycilia Zabi in Mobile Suit Gundam left the fandom wondering how she would interact with Ikeda's Durandal here. Although Rey killed Djibril with a bazooka to the face this time, there's a mini comic illustration of Talia doing it to Durandal.
• The Captain: She serves as the Minerva's captain.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: The original scene between her, Head-Turning Beauty Murrue and Arthur has her firmly shoving Arthur out of Murrue's way when he's done nothing more than smile politely. To make it funnier, Talia's not even looking at him. She's also really unimpressed by his enthusiasm at Meer's concert. See Tsundere.
• Commissar Cap: Part of the standard ZAFT captain's uniform.
• Cool Ship: The Minerva from SEED Destiny. It's named after the Roman goddess of defensive warfare AND wisdom! - which only serves to make an already cool winged ship more awesome still.
• Foil: To both Murrue and the late Natarle Badgiruel from SEED, with Talia's sharpness and stricter approach contrasting Murrue's original naivete, and her anger and skepticism contrasting Natarle's unquestioning loyalty and unemotionalism, and Murrue's current idealism. In a Call-Back, Talia also ends up trying to take out a non-military boss she can no longer stand, in the end. Acknowledged by Talia herself when she expresses the wish for Murrue to meet her young son, someday.
• Freudian Slip: In the original script of SEED Destiny, she does refer to Arthur once the way a wife usually does to her husband. Japanese fandom noticed the Ship Tease.
• The Good Captain: Talia runs her outfit with precision, intelligence, and wry humor, cares deeply about every last person in her charge and their safety, and valiantly tries to always do right with her independent authority, even if it doesn't align with demands from HQ. In the end, she finally tries to independently stop Durandal for the murderous autocrat he's become.
• I Choose to Stay: At the end of SEED Destiny, she opts to stay with the dying Durandal and Rey as Messiah collapses on itself.
• Improbable Age: She's a flagship captain who's just twenty-nine. Justified as her boss is only thirty-four, but she does remark on how young her crew is.
• Ironic Name: The Greek name "Thalia" is either the Muse of Comedy or the Grace of Plenty. Aside from some of her interactions with Arthur, not much is funny about her or her story, and she was notably lacking in screentime and Character Development.^note It's also pronounced completely differently. Although her name gets far more appropriate if you consider the identically spelled-and-pronounced Talia al Ghul...
• Know When to Fold 'Em: While the entire world is confused over which Lacus is real at the end of SEED Destiny, she points out that Lacus has no authority over ZAFT or the PLANTs due to her position as a rogue third party, so she doesn't bother pressing the issue.
• Lady and Knight: With Arthur in SEED Destiny. Normally the standard Bright Lady and White Knight, but given the show's moral carousel as well as their standard outfits, it's also possible to view them as a Dark Lady and Black Knight like their inspirations, Koyama's former role and Casting Gag Kycilia Zabi and M'Quve from Mobile Suit Gundam.
• Like an Old Married Couple: Arthur's constantly at her side and she has a mix of affection and annoyance for him, so they come off as this.
• Meaningful Appearance: Her gray eyes match her Cool Ship. Appropriate - as in "gray-eyed Athena".
• Modesty Bedsheet: She uses it after her one time with Durandal.
• New Old Flame: To Durandal. Almost instantly begins turning to an Old Flame Fizzle, due to his ever-increasing callousness and her responsive disgust.
• Parental Substitute: Becomes this to Rey at the very end of SEED Destiny, in the most tragic way possible.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: She's tough and firm but generally fair and sympathetic; again, a good balance between Murrue and Natarle.
• The Reveal: In succession, she and Chairman Durandal are lovers, at least for one early episode of SEED Destiny, were romantically involved more than a decade ago, and she is a mother with a young son from the marriage she chose over him. Additionally, while the series doesn't clarify the state of Talia's marriage at all, the post-series audio dramas make her a widow from prior to the start of SEED Destiny, though unusually for this trope, she never thinks about her unnamed husband once.
• The Rival: She and the Minerva are very much the morally ambiguous counterparts to Murrue and the Archangel faction.
• Ship Tease: With Arthur in SEED Destiny. Even the fact that she calls him "Arthur" implies more of a degree of familiarity than strict professionalism (not that their relationship is terribly professional to begin with).
• Sleeping with the Boss: Although otherwise normally highly professional, Talia does this at least once onscreen with Durandal while he's the Chairman, continuing with Cosmic Era's Gundam-groundbreaking of showing people sleeping together. It's not depicted as romantic ^*Durandal is dressed in a robe and working in her bed while Talia's wandering around in a Modesty Bedsheet, so there isn't even any physical contact shown, it doesn't happen again, it's never even referred to by either of them, and for more than twenty episodes, it has no context. Turns out Sex with the Ex was a very abrupt way of showing they were Old Flames and that their relationship is troubled and distant. Far more of the Old Flame Fizzle is shown during SEED Destiny.
• Stay in the Kitchen: We get to hear an older white (and white-coat) male ZAFT officer complain at one point about how things are "Gladys'" fault because she's a woman.
• Subordinate Excuse: Would just as soon NOT be in this position with the Chairman.
• Team Mom: She tries, but she isn't really emotionally equipped for it, the Chairman's overarching and arbitrary authority means hers is being constantly subverted, and her crew's problems are just too much for her to handle.
• To Be Lawful or Good: Zigzagged; ostensibly lawful yet unhesitatingly skeptical through the entire show, she refused to invade Orb, and Durandal's use of the Requiem on friendly forces may have been her final justification for setting out to kill him on her own.
• Tsundere: Talia is shown multiple times to have affection for and be very possessive of Arthur. Whether it's romantic and extends to Subordinate Excuse or not, for a few reasons (like her boss or being his boss), she can't express it normally and it comes out as her being very critical of him (or shoving or yanking him). It extends to the post-SEED Destiny audio dramas, where Arthur (who adores her and does express that), says "She probably didn't like me at all." That might be grief and trauma talking, but she's still a tsundere.
• Two First Names: A rare feminine example. Appropriate if you believe that Gladys is related to gladius — Latin for sword, or claudius for either 'lamed/crippled' or "I close".
• Woman Scorned: It's complicated. Although she was the one who broke up with Durandal years ago, and he seemingly obsesses about it to still viewing teenage her as The One Who Got Away, his treatment of the actual present-day Talia is generally dismissive, unloving, and unprofessional at best, and seemingly an excuse to gloat "look how you can't influence MY decisions" — including ones where he has people killed — at worst. While his murderous behavior is horrible, his Jerkass treatment of her due to their personal relationship does seemingly contribute to her abandoning the command he appointed her to and personally setting off to kill him in the end.

Arthur Trine

Voiced by: Hiroki Takahashi (Japanese); Jonathan Holmes [Ocean dub], Robbie Daymond [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Arthur in SEED Freedom

^{Click here to see Arthur in SEED Destiny}

"I believe what the Chairman says about getting along with the Naturals, but if someone doesn't get shot, this war is never going to end."

Talia's second-in-command in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Arthur is a likeable and competent, if remarkably panicky executive officer. Totally loyal to Captain Gladys, he has a good rapport with Shinn and the other pilots.

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, Arthur is the Executive Officer aboard the Millennium.

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• Accent Adaptation: He has no accent in the original, but in the first English dub (likely due to his name, quirky personality, etc.) he gains a British-Australian one (and loses his Character Catchphrase).
• Black Comedy Burst: "And if they all decided to turn on us, that'd be the end of Gibraltar! Ahahaha..." (Given his ''other'' specialty, Talia might have been right in getting mad here.)
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Arthur's goofy and inexperienced but is never shown to be less than competent at his job. Justified, in that ZAFT is a militia.
• The Cassandra: "Impulse can beat the Freedom"? "If someone doesn't get shot, this war is never going to end"? "Hey, maybe it's NOT a good idea to go after The Chosen Many on the Archangel"? This is his non-Plucky Comic Relief role. Arthur tends to be rather startlingly accurate when he predicts something, but for various reasons, he's not terribly effective at getting taken seriously.
• Character Catchphrase: In Japanese. EHHH??
• Commissar Cap: Part of the standard uniform.
• Cowardly Lion: Arthur is nervy, jumpy, and prone to freaking out, yet he's a perfectly capable officer, sticks by The Captain's side to the end, and adapts remarkably well to the Minerva's increasingly crazy plans.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: In the Remaster of SEED Destiny, Talia yanks him by the ear for daring to ogle the Head-Turning Beauty Murrue.
• Endearingly Dorky: Fanboying Shinn and the Impulse; bouncing at Meer's concert; gaping up against the glass of the bridge window; clapping two beats too long at an assembly, glancing at Talia, and stopping... Even Talia smiles and Freudian Slips about Arthur's enthusiasm, occasionally.
• Ensign Newbie: Unlike his boss, Arthur is not a veteran. Fortunately, he's the Number Two, not The Captain, and acquits himself fairly well.
• First-Name Basis: Talia addresses him this way, and it's noticeable because ZAFT is more of a Last-Name Basis kind of place.
• Flanderization: On the one hand, Arthur was never going to be a typical military character — Takahashi says he was asked to audition with the line "Looking lovely as usual, Captain!". However, he was introduced with some very stern-looking lineart, and his serious and questioning behavior still takes up most of his time for the first several episodes. Then the goofy moments get increasingly more focus. He is still shown doing perfectly normal executive officer things, but the former are all anybody remembers, to the point where many people think he's incompetent or wonder why or how he has his job, despite being a Bunny-Ears Lawyer.
• Lady and Knight: With Talia. Whether it's bright or dark or both is open to interpretation. Given how she's played by the seiyuu who played Kycilia Zabi in the original series, Arthur has a few resemblances to her underling M'Quve — notably his hair and his fervent loyalty.
• Like an Old Married Couple: His relationship with Talia, and it's very much played for all the comedy inherent.
• Likes Older Women: Very mildly, but Talia's three years older.
• Mildly Military: He gets called by his first name, yelled at by his boss, and his personality makes him seem like he's not much of a soldier, but he does know what he's doing and can get strict about it.
• Nice Guy: Arthur is a rarity in this show—hell, in this franchise—an unambiguously affable guy.
• Non-Action Guy: Subverted. He may not pilot a mobile suit, but he's the first officer of a battleship.
• Number Two:
  • To Talia in SEED Destiny, though it's downplayed because she's so capable as The Captain and Athrun's presence starts messing with the Minerva chain of command. He has Undying Loyalty to her, though.
  • As the XO of the Millennium in SEED Freedom, Arthur serves as Alexei's right-hand man. But due to Alexei himself handing command of the ship to Murrue, Arthur relegates himself to operator duty.
• Officer and a Gentleman: He may be periodically goofy, but Arthur's nothing but devoted and chivalrous.
• Plucky Comic Relief: In a universe that's as much of a Crapsack World as the Cosmic Era, Arthur embodies this.
• Ship Tease: With Talia, who else?
• Subordinate Excuse: Played with. Arthur is so happy being around Talia that he's pretty much Oblivious to Love and can't pick up her frustrated Tsundere signals that she seemingly likes him in a slightly different way. According to side materials, it's not a crush on his end. He's utterly devoted to her and she's his favorite person "but it's not the same". Courtly Love, if anything, given the allusions...
• Undying Loyalty: To Talia. "She probably didn't like me at all... but I liked her." In the audio dramas, after she goes MIA at Messiah's collapse, he tells her son Will that he wants to be his guardian.
• Unknown Rival: For Athrun, as top officer on the Minerva; he dislikes his presence on the ship from the get-go^note  Given how Athrun's presence brought absolutely nothing to the Minerva and he crippled the ship in the end, it can be seen as yet another manifestation of him being The Cassandra, visibly Death Glares at him a couple of times, and also does things like let Shinn back-talk Athrun when he instantly jumps in and reprimands him if it's Talia... but Arthur never says anything about it — it's the middle of a war and Athrun, who never notices, has far bigger issues.
• You Are in Command Now: Twice. Briefly, after Talia is too emotionally exhausted, following the events of Athrun's desertion, then when she leaves the crew in his hands at the end, apologizing to him and asking him to look after everyone. Salute.

Crew Members

Shinn Asuka

See his entry on the ''SEED Destiny'' main characters page

Lunamaria Hawke

See her entry on the ''SEED Destiny'' main characters page

Rey Za Burrel

See his entry on the ''SEED Destiny'' main characters page

Meyrin Hawke

See her entry on in ''Eternal'' Crew

Yolan Kent and Vino Dupre

Yolan voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita [TV series], Daisuke Namikawa [Special Edition] (Japanese); Michael Coleman [Ocean dub], Ogie Banks [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Vino voiced by: Hisafumi Oda (Japanese); Reece Thompson [Ocean dub], Spike Spencer [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Yolan and Vino respectively

Two technicians stationed aboard the Minerva in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny and close friends with Meyrin and the Minerva's ace pilots.

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• The Engineer: They're mobile suit technicians.
• Fan Boys: Of "Lacus Clyne" (Meer). Both are quite happy with her more energetic style and that "Lacus" was now openly flaunting her generous proportions.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: When Vino expressed his conflicted feelings about Meyrin's "execution", Yolan hushed his friend and told him to never bring it up again and to basically forget that Meyrin ever existed.
• Love Makes You Dumb: In SEED Freedom, Vino is head-over-heels for Agnes as she puts on a sweet façade around the technical department. Unlike his friend, Yolan can see through her façade and finds her genuinely irritating. It helps that Yolan has witnessed Agnes's unpleasant nature first hand during their academy days (as shown in the "Moonlight Valkyrie" novel) when she bullies Shinn over performing poorly in a simulation and being a refugee of Orb. The one scene Yolan had with Agnes cemented his low opinion of her as he was disgusted by how she treated him, even standing up to her.
• Those Two Guys: They're rarely seen apart.
• Uncertain Doom: The final episode of SEED Destiny implies that Yolan may have died when Athrun sunk the Minerva, not helped by how he wasn't seen in the epilogue nor in SEED Freedom despite Vino being present in both. When the Minerva sinks, Vino is seen in the escape ship with a pained expression and holding a pair of gloves that may be Yolan's. However, it's never been explicitly confirmed nor denied.

Additional Crews

Athrun Zala

See his entry on the ''SEED'' main characters page

Heine Westenfluss

Main mecha: ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom (orange), ZGMF-2000 GOUF Ignited (orange)

Voiced by: Takanori Nishikawa (Japanese); Brian Dobson [Ocean dub], Michael Sinterniklaas [NYAV Post dub]

"This is no ZAKU, pal! NO ZAKU!"

A ZAFT Redcoat and member of FAITH in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, he's assigned to the Minerva partway through the war. A survivor of the First Bloody Valentine conflict, he maintains a more optimistic attitude than Athrun, and tries his best to balance his fellow veteran's cynicism, while making friends with Shinn, Rey and the rest of the crew. He pilots a Blaze ZAKU Phantom, and then a ZGMF-X200 GOUF Ignited.

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• The Ace: Treated as such by the Minerva's crew but unlike Athrun, he seems to enjoy his status.
• Ace Custom: His bright orange ZAKU Phantom and later GOUF Ignited, which matches his pilot suit and his hair.
• Ace Pilot: His piloting skills are actually on par with Athrun.
• Badass Boast: "This is no ZAKU, pal! NO ZAKU!"
• Command Roster: Subverted. He disapproves of ZAFT soldiers being identified with titles and believes everyone is equal which says a lot from a member of FAITH.
• Commanding Coolness: Although he prefers not to be called commander.
• Custom Uniform: When piloting his GOUF, he wears an orange variant of the Minerva's pilot suit. The HD Remaster also shows him wearing an orange and red variant of the standard ZAFT pilot suit while piloting his ZAKU.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: His Japanese VA sang the original OP song "Ignited" and insert songs "Vestige" (which became the fourth and final OP in the Compilation Movie and HD remaster), "Zips", and "Meteor" (both returning from SEED).
• First-Name Basis: With the Minerva pilots he insists they call him by his first name and encourages everyone to be as open with each other as well.
• Foil: Serves as one to the more conflicted Athrun, being totally loyal to ZAFT and the Chairman and convinced of the righteousness of the war. Needless to say, Shinn wishes Athrun was more like him.
• Good Is Not Soft: The friendliest ZAFT soldier towards his comrades, but still a soldier that won't hesitate to strike down his enemies.
• It Gets Easier: He thinks so.
• Lightning Lash: One of his GOUF's main weapons is an electric/heat whip.
• Mauve Shirt: This loyal, friendly, cool and highly competent mobile suit pilot with a great sense of pride gets involved in a battle when the Minerva gets attacked by the Earth Forces and Phantom Pain during which, Kira and the Archangel arrive. He engages Stella first and later Kira... only for the former to kill him.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Heine's all about being a good soldier, which makes him a fair bit like Athrun was in the previous war.
• Nice Guy: Introduces himself to the Minerva pilots and is completely outgoing and friendly attempting to raise the morale of his fellow pilots.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His character is based on T.M Revolution, who provided his voice in the Japanese version.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He's brought in, seems to be a badass, is established as a Foil to Athrun, makes friends with Shinn and dies a few episodes later.
• Shout-Out: He gives Ramba Ral's "No ZAKU" line while piloting a GOUF.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: We only see him for five episodes and learn too little about him (especially his personality) over that period before he's bisected by Stella]

Abbey Windsor

Voiced by: Michiko Neya, Haruka Tomatsu [Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom] (Japanese); Tabitha St. Germain [Ocean dub], Olivia Hack [NYAV Post dub] (English)

Abbey in SEED Freedom

^{Click here to see Abbey in SEED Destiny}

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, Abbey serves as a communications operator aboard the Minerva, replacing Meyrin Hawke who has defected from ZAFT in the later stages of the show.

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, she now works for Compass aboard the Millennium.

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• Bridge Bunny: On the Minerva in the final act of SEED Destiny and on the Millennium in SEED Freedom.
• Casting Gag: Her new voice actress in SEED Freedom, Haruka Tomatsu, previously played Mobile Suit Gundam 00's Mileina Vashti, who was also a Bridge Bunny.
• Communications Officer: Abbey replaced Meyrin on the Minerva, following the latter defection at the end of SEED Destiny.

Other ZAFT Soldiers

Marco Morassim

Main mecha: YF-3A GINN FEMWS, AMF-101 DINN, UMF-5 ZnO

Voiced by: Hiroshi Takemura (Japanese); Jonathan Holmes [Ocean dub], Bill Rogers [NYAV Post dub] (English)

"You can't beat the ZnO!!"

Known as "Killer Whale of the Red Sea", Morassim the commander of ZAFT's Morassim Corps, which controls the area around the Indian Ocean in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. He lost his wife and child in the Bloody Valentine Incident on February 14, C.E. 70, and has an intense hatred for the Earth Alliance and Naturals because of this.

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• Ace Pilot: According to supplementary materials, he and a team of three other pilots, all using experimental GINN designs with Marco himself piloting a prototype, wiped out all but one member of an OMNI fleet. In the show itself, Marco holds his own against the Archangel crew piloting grunt suits and was just as capable of piloting both the aerial-based DINN and aquatic-based ZnO.
• Beard of Sorrow: While no direct connection is made, his family being dead and him being one of the few pilots we see with a beard does bring up some ideas.
• Challenge Seeker: He saw Rau's request to help hunt down the Archangel as a challenge and decided to destroy the ship himself.
• Taking You with Me: After Kira manages to land a decisive strike on Marco's ZnO, he pulls the Strike into a grapple and attempts to fire his maser cannon at point-blank range. Even after the Strike drives two additional blades into his mobile suit, Marco still refuses to let go, forcing Kira to kick him off before the ZnO exploded.

Sato

Main mecha: ZGMF-1017M2 GINN High Maneuver Type II

Voiced by: Taro Yamaguchi (Japanese TV series), Kazuhiro Nakata (Japanese Special Edition), Paul Dobson (English original series dub), Beau Billingslea (English HD remaster dub)

"Now fall, our great tombstone! On a world that has forgotten the voices of sorrow! That closes its eyes and chooses to wallow in deceit! The hour of correction is now at hand!"

Leader of a group of former ZAFT pilots who, in episodes 5-7 of Gundam SEED Destiny, commence an operation to drop the remains of Junius Seven onto Earth.

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• Colony Drop: He and his group attempted to drop the remains of Junius Seven onto Earth; although it was foiled by the Minerva crew, remnants of the colony managed to crash onto various locations on Earth.
• Cynicism Catalyst: His wife Christine and his buddy Allen were killed in the Bloody Valentine incident, which gave birth to a hatred for the Naturals of Earth.
• The Remnant: He is the leader of a group of former ZAFT pilots still loyal to former PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Patrick Zala and his Master Race views.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His group's actions would eventually kick off the Second Alliance-PLANT War. On a much more personal scale, it's his revelation that they are Zala loyalists that cause Athrun's old issues to flare up, causing him to unintentionally cause more harm than help among the cast.

Ash Gray

A psychopathic ZAFT soldier appearing in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray who joined up with the military just to be able to kill a lot of people. Near the end of the Bloody Valentine War he is assigned to hunt down Lacus Clyne, and goes after the Junk Guild because he received intelligence that their ship docked with the Eternal. He pilots the Regenerate Gundam.

In Destiny Astray, it is revealed that he survived his encounter with Lowe and was captured by the Earth Alliance, and brainwashed into their Extended program. As a member of Phantom Pain, he assists in stealing the prototype Gundams at the beginning of SEED Destiny, and goes after Jess Rabble because the Out Frame is the "brother" unit to his own Gundam, the Testament.

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• Brainwashed and Crazy: Not that he wasn't crazy before, but becoming an Extended didn't help.
• Facial Markings: Has some rather creepy markings resembling eyes on his forehead.
• Not Quite Dead: "Rescued" by Phantom Pain, and then brainwashed into helping them.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Explicitly joined the military so he could kill people.
• Stealth in Space: The Testament Gundam's main ability. Although it doesn't actually use stealth: it releases a virus into nearby computers that edits the Testament out of camera footage in real-time. Jess and Kaite defeat it by building a second cockpit into Out Frame, this one with an actual window, so Jess can direct Kaite's attacks via line of sight.

Courtney Hieronymus

Main mecha: XMF-P192P Proto-Chaos, ZGMF-X56S/θ Destiny Impulse GundamUnit 3

He was a civilian employee of Verne Design Bureau and worked as a test pilot. He began working for ZAFT after Verne was merged with other companies to form Integrated Design Bureau. He has particular skill with the DRAGOON system. Before the beginning of the second war, he was the test pilot of the Proto-Chaos, and later, the Chaos Gundam. When the Chaos was stolen, he launched in the Proto Chaos to fight against a separate group that attacked Armory One.

Riika Sheder

Main mecha: ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom

The test pilot for the Gaia in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray. She is blind (despite being a Coordinator) and requires special glasses to see. As such, she's an extreme example of the flaws in standard genetic manipulation technology that spurred the Ultimate Coordinator project. After the Gaia is stolen by Phantom Pain, she instead pilots a ZAKU Phantom for ZAFT.

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• Blind Without 'Em: Literally.
• Butt-Monkey: Blind despite being a Coordinator? Gets her mobile suit stolen? The girl doesn't have good luck, it seems.

Mare Strode

Main mecha: ZGMF-X31S Abyss Gundam, ZGMF-X56S/θ Destiny Impulse Gundam Unit 1

A former Earth Alliance Coordinator soldier with a specialty for underwater combat. In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray, he test piloted the Abyss Gundam, and was going to be assigned as its official pilot, but it was stolen before that could happen. He hates Naturals with a passion, and harbors jealousy toward Shinn Asuka.

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• Fantastic Racism: One of the few "hero" characters who is prejudiced.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Mare feels that he should be the Impulse's pilot, Not Shinn. Later after Mare recovers from the Armory One Incident, He would get his wish of piloting the Impulse as he assigned to one of the prototype Destiny Impulse Units.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: Despite his initial bitterness that he was designated only an test pilot for the Abyss while Shinn has been assigned as the official pilot of the Impulse, Mare is later made the official pilot of the Abyss....only for the Armory One incident to occur with Mare being shot by one of the Extended and the Abyss being stolen by Auel.

Mikhail Coast

Main mecha: ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type, ZGMF-1000 Hospital ZAKU Warrior

Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi

A ZAFT pilot, he was a physician before joining ZAFT but decided to leave medicine behind to fight on the battlefield.

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• Combat Medic: He uses his observation skills and mobility to control his mobile suit like a doctor uses scalpels. His combat prowess resulted in him being referred to as "The Doctor"
• The Medic: Even though he is a pilot, he is still a doctor who is ready to help people, even those who have fought with him.
• Red Baron: "The Doctor"

Goud Veia

See his entry on the ''Librarian Works''