Fanfic / Gundam Seed Destiny Altered

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Destiny Altered is a Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Fix Fic, written by author Rosendrache/Drachenritter and set in the Cosmic Era Alternate Universe. It consists of two parts:

• An Alternate Fate, a single-chapter prologue that is a partial Retcon of certain events of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
• Gundam SEED: Destiny Altered, the story itself, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It essentially takes the basic plot line of the work it is based on and alters it, shifting the time line approximately a year and a half forward, and then going on to make a series of changes intended to address what the author perceived as flaws in Gundam Seed Destiny.

The primary focus is on the development of new character and main protagonist Shinn Asuka. As a result, Shinn's Protagonist Journey to Villain from the original series is completely eliminated, and he remains the main protagonist for the entirety of the story. Substantial effort is also put into addressing issues in the series's handling of returning cast members Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Athha, with both taking on a more proactive role compared to their canon portrayal.

Some additional changes are made to the cast, and certain story elements and characters are also adapted from side-story material such as the ONA Gundam SEED CE 73 Stargazer.

The story and its prologue are hosted on Fanfiction.net, links below:

• An Alternate Fate
• Gundam SEED: Destiny Altered

The work is complete.

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Tropes used in An Alternate Fate:

• Heroic Sacrifice: Played straight with Mu La Flaga, as in the series. Averted with Natarle, who manages to overpower Azrael and fatally shoot him before escaping the Dominion.
• Killed Off for Real: As in the series: Muruta Azrael, Asagi Caldwell, Mayura Labatt and Flay Allster still die. In addition, Mu La Flaga is offed for good.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Unlike in the series, Natarle Badgiruel and Juri Wu Nien both survive. Juri survives by way of her Astray getting shot in a less vital spot, merely disabling it. Natarle survives by taking Azrael's gun and shooting him with it, sparing her the Cold-Blooded Torture he put her through in the canon.
• Villainous Breakdown: Muruta Azrael, just as in the series, except he doesn't live long enough to Face Death with Despair when the Archangel blasts the Dominion; he dies from the multiple gunshot wounds he suffers from Natarle.

Tropes used in Gundam Seed: Destiny Altered:

• Ace Custom: For the most part limited to custom paint-jobs: For one example, Yzak is well-known for favoring blue mobile suits, to the point where an opposing pilot is able to identify him on sight just based on the color of his machine in one of the later battles in the story. Other pilots with distinctive or unique paint jobs in the story include Heine Westenfluss, Dearka Elsman, Shiho Hahnenfuss, and Athrun Zala.
  • Canard Pars's Hyperion-G not only has a unique color scheme, but its equipment has been customized over the standard model using spare parts from the original prototype from which the Hyperion-G was developed.
  • The ultimate example of an Ace Custom in the story is probably the Destiny Gundam: While its backstory establishes that it has been in development for some time, the finalized prototype was built specifically for Shinn's use, and its armament was explicitly designed with his particular combat style in mind.
• Ace Pilot: Most of the main cast, but Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala are the most notable. Yzak Joule manages to simultaneously be both this and The Captain, though he spends more time in the latter role, a fact with which he expresses some frustration on one occasion.
• Adapted Out:
  • Talia Gladys is completely absent from the story, being excluded in favor of Yzak Joule being the captain of the Minerva. This erases her plotline and her connection to Gilbert Durendal.
  • Meyrin Hawke, Lunamaria's sister, also makes no appearance, except for an extremely brief cameo in the background during the final scene of the prologue chapter. She is confirmed to exist in the timeline, but is not assigned to the Minerva as her canon counterpart was.
  • Lukas O'Donnell also replaces Neo Roanoke, since Mu was Killed Off for Real, and largely fills the same role for the most part. As a result, the entire plot of Neo being a brainwashed Mu La Flaga is cut, and Mu is still dead.
  • Lukas simultaneously replaces Sting Oakley, who likewise does not appear, as pilot of the Chaos. The Chaos itself is reimagined into a Moebius Zero-like Mobile Armor rather than a Gundam, like the Abyss and Gaia.
• Affably Evil: Gilbert Durendal.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Played with in the case of Stella Loussier — see Dying Declaration of Love, below.
• All Your Powers Combined: The Destiny Gundam, which takes the canon design and turns it up to eleven. Its armament includes (among other things): two really big swords, two massively powerful beam cannons, and a beam saber mounted to each leg. It also has insanely high speed and maneuverability, thus combining all of the Impulse's various Silhouette Packs into a single mobile suit.
• Anyone Can Die: Quite brutally invoked: unlike the original series, Lacus Clyne is actually killed by a sniper. It also appears to be the case with Kira and Stella, but both subvert it; Kira survives the destruction of the Freedom, but is left permanently crippled. Stella survives the Destroy's destruction despite near-fatal injuries, and makes a full recovery. And then there's Rey Za Burrel, who initially is also a subversion in that while this appears to be the case when he is supposedly killed by the Freedom, he survives despite near-fatal injuries. The final battle plays it straight, as he is killed by Shinn.
• Armed Legs: Shinn frequently kicks enemy mobile suits in combat, and the Destiny Gundam, which was specifically designed and tuned to fit his style of combat, takes advantage of this tendency by means of a beam blade equipped to each leg.
  • The Chaos also has beam claws in its legs.
  • The Gells-Ghe’s two frontmost legs each mount a single beam cannon.
  • The Zamza-Zah takes this trope to a frankly ludicrous extreme, as each of its legs mounts four different types of weapon: A shell-firing cannon along the top, two CIWS turrets on each side, a heat claw large and powerful enough to crush regular mobile suits, and a powerful beam cannon mounted to the back of said claw.
• Arranged Marriage: Yuna Roma Seiran and Cagalli Yula Athha — discussed in the story, but does not ever actually take place. In fact, not only is it disrupted by Kira abducting Cagalli before it can take place (whereas in the series he did so at the wedding itself), but later Cagalli actually ends up killing Yuna for betraying Orb.
• Ascended Fangirl: Two examples.
  • Lunamaria Hawke, when she finally gets the chance to pilot Mobile Suits alongside her idol Athrun.
  • Meer Campbell, a self-confessed Lacus fangirl, actually gets to be her idol.
• Ascended Extra: Yzak is promoted from barely getting a couple of cameos in the series to being one of the story's central characters. Also, Canard Pars, Sven Cal Bayan, Mudie Holcroft, Lukas O'Donnell, and Rondo Mina Sahaku, who are pulled from assorted side-stories and never appeared in either animated series.
• Attack Drone: A number of machines have wirelessly-controlled unmanned remote weapons, including the Chaos, Thales, Legend, and Destroy.
• Badass Army: The ZAFT and Alliance forces when they are fighting at Heaven's Base together against the forces of Logos.
• Badass Crew: The Minerva's crew and Phantom Pain are notable examples.
• Badass Longcoat:
  • Gilbert Durendal, as in the series, constantly wears a particularly snazzy white-and-black one.
  • Ezalia Joule wears a slightly less awesome dark blue one, as do most members of the Supreme Council including Athrun, when he joins the Council as seen in the epilogue.
• Badass Normal:
  • Lukas O'Donnell, a Natural who is capable of holding his own against Coordinators.
  • Sven Cal Bayan and Mudie Holcroft, even more notable for doing so in mook suits for much of the story before acquiring the Strike Noir and Blu Duel.
• Battle Couple: Shinn and Stella after her High-Heel–Face Turn. Also Athrun and Cagalli, during the Final Battle.
• Becoming the Mask: Deliberately, completely averted with Meer. Not only is she perfectly candid in multiple private conversations with Athrun about the duplicity of her act, but at no point does she ever claim to be Lacus Clyne. On the contrary, near the end of the story she very publicly reveals that she is in fact not, as well as the fact that the true Lacus Clyne is long since dead.
• Beam Spam: Quite a few: the Abyss, Blast Impulse, Freedom, both Saviour Gundams, Destiny, and Legend, as well as the Chaos and Thales. The reigning king of this, however, is the Destroy.
• Berserk Button: It is highly recommended not to appear like you are even remotely contemplating the thought of harming anyone Shinn Asuka happens to be particularly close to. Very bad things will happen to you if you do.
  • Initially, mentioning Orb and/or the Athhas anywhere within earshot of Shinn is a second one, until Character Development takes place.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Heine Westenfluss; off the battlefield, he's just about the nicest, most mellow guy you could ever want to run into. In combat… well, let's just say he's a member of FAITH for a reason. This becomes a problem when he, as an agent of FAITH, is on Durendal's side in the final battle.
  • Stella Loussier also counts. Normally, she's a pretty sweet, naive, slightly ditzy teenage girl. In combat, however, is a different story.
• BFG: Several examples, including Lunamaria's Gunner ZAKU, as well as nearly every unit listed under Beam Spam directly above.
• BFS: Mudie Holcroft's Sabre Dagger, from her introductory chapter. The Sword Impulse has two which can be combined at the pommel. The Storm Impulse and Strike Noir also each have two slightly smaller ones.
  • Probably the standout example though, are the two Anti-Ship Beam Sabers of the Destiny, which are based on the Sword Impulse's swords: Each individual saber emits a blade longer than the Destiny itself is tall, and they retain the ability to combine.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Gilbert Durendal/Durandal and Lord Teivel Jibril/Djibril are on opposite sides of the war, utterly hate each other, and both need to die in order for the story to end well. Which of the two is worse is arguable.
• Big Brother Mentor: Athrun and, briefly, Heine to Shinn. Also very briefly Heine to Athrun himself.
• Big Damn Heroes: A couple of characters get one, but Kira Yamato and Shinn himself are most notable.
• Big Damn Kiss: Shinn and Stella get theirs when they are reunited at Portsmouth, shortly prior to the attack on Heaven's Base.
• Bigger Stick: The aptly-named GFAS-X1 Destroy Mobile Armor. At 56 meters tall and 400 tons, it is physically the Biggest Stick. The initial prototype goes on a rampage that levels four cities and causes millions of casualties before it's ultimately brought down.
  • Technologically Shinn's Destiny Gundam and Rey's Legend Gundam are this. They are the fastest, most advanced mobile suits ever created, and are unmatched by anything in any other nation's arsenal.
• Body Double: Meer Campbell for Lacus Clyne. Meer even goes on to replace Lacus after the latter is assassinated.
• Bodyguard Crush: Athrun and Cagalli, until the former's departure from Orb.
• Boom, Headshot!: Unlike in the series, Yuna Roma Seiran is killed this way when a furious Cagalli puts a bullet in his head at point-blank range — an impulsive act which she immediately regrets as she hadn't finished interrogating him. The sniper who kills Lacus is also killed in this fashion shortly afterwards.
• Bridge Bunnies: The Minerva has the story's most prominent example in Abigail Windsor, the only female member of the ship's bridge crew whose primary responsibilities include communications and coordinating with the ship's mobile suits in combat, including operating the seldom-used Deuterion Beam system used for remotely recharging the Impulse's battery. The Diana, sister-ship to the Minerva, which appears in the last few chapters, likewise has a single Bridge Bunny in Jo Crocker, who is in charge of the helm.
  • Ex-Archangel Bridge Bunny turned freelance photographer Miriallia Haw returns to her former post soon after her first appearance, and remains there until the Archangel is destroyed in Operation Angel Down
• Broken Bird:
  • Stella Loussier, so much. The process of turning her into one of the Alliance's so-called "Extended Humans" left her a mentally unstable Cloudcuckoolander with the emotional maturity of a child and severe paranoia that manifests primarily as a potentially crippling fear of death.
  • Shinn is a male example as a result of the extreme emotional trauma he experienced when his entire was gruesomely killed in front of him when he was just fourteen years old. He is mentioned at least once to have suffered severe nightmares in the wake of the experience.
• Cannon Fodder: Any mass-produced mobile suit not piloted by a named character is this, for the most part. Most notable are the Earth Alliance Dagger, ZAFT's ZAKU Warrior, and Orb's Murasame.
  • The Windam is a borderline case, as in at least one instance it is shown to be able to fight almost on par with the Impulse Gundam even when piloted by unnamed mooks.
  • The limited-production mobile suit Hyperion-G and the production-model mobile armor Euclid both subvert this; both prove themselves to be substantially superior to previous mass-produced mobile suits, and those that are destroyed generally fall to either numerical disadvantage or technologically equal or superior opponents.
• The Captain: Several characters throughout the story. Most worthy of mention are Yzak, Natarle, Colonel Todaka, and Original Character Bernard MacCaffrey.
• Character Development: Shinn, oh so much. He starts out, as in the series, angry, self-centered, and irrationally hating the Athhas. As time goes on, he gradually learns to put his own grievances aside and becomes more aware of and mature in dealing with the consequences of his actions, eventually putting the past behind him entirely. Athrun, who plays a pivotal role in this development, even lampshades this in one chapter when he comments on Shinn's dramatically altered stance on Orb. This stands out as Shinn ultimately blames the Seirans for housing Jibril, not Orb as a whole, and ultimately reaches its conclusion in the epilogue, when in a final conversation with Kira Shinn apologizes for what he's done, and forgives Kira for what the latter unwittingly did to his family.
• Chest Blaster: A couple of units have these, such as the Abyss. The Destroy has three on its main body as well, which are scaled up in proportion to its massive size.
• Colony Drop: Wouldn't be Gundam without one. In this case, Sato and The Remnant of Patrick Zala's genocidal anti-Natural faction drop the wreckage of Junius 7 onto the Earth, providing casus belli for the Alliance to start another war.
• Combining Mecha: The Impulse, which follows the standard top/bottom/cockpit fighter formula of several previous Gundams, plus its various Silhouette Packs. Used to extraordinary effect by Shinn to defeat Kira and destroy the Freedom.
• Composite Character: As in the series, Shinn is basically one for both Amuro Ray and Kamille Bidan, though he more closely resembles the latter.
  • Stella is also one, being basically Rosamia Badam, living Four Murasame's life — except for the fact that Stella actually survives in this version, where Rosamia and Four both died.
  • Athrun might qualify, in that the role he fills vis-à-vis Shinn blends characteristics of both Amuro and Quattro Bajeena/Char Aznable.
  • Three mecha examples:
    • The semi-original ZGMF-YX29R Knight Saviour, which as an upgraded Saviour Gundam, combines this with elements of the Infinite Justice (which it replaces). According to its backstory, it incorporates data on all of Athrun's previous machines, including the original Justice Gundam and a planned successor unit that was cancelled following the end of the previous war.
    • Altered's version of the Legend Gundam is essentially a mix between its canon counterpart (itself a refined version of Providence Gundam) and Strike Freedom, and the Shiranui Akatsuki (the Strike Freedom is entirely absent from this version, while the Akatsuki retains the original equipment it had in its first deployment on Earth).
    • Likewise Altered's titular Destiny Gundam combines elements of its canon counterpart, the Infinite Justice Gundam, and the Strike Freedom. This is even incorporated into its backstory, as GSDA's Destiny was designed based on a cancelled project to develop a successor to the original Freedom, combined with the accumulated data of the Impulse.
• Cool Ship: Several. To whit, the Archangel, until its destruction; The Minerva; The Izumo-class, of which there are a total of four; and the Niranjan-class, which can turn invisible. There are two of these, one of which — the Alakhshya — is commanded by Natarle Badgiruel. The Eternal doesn't appear much, but it also counts until it, too, is destroyed in the Final Battle.
• Corporal Punishment: Athrun lays hands on Shinn twice for stepping out of line. Once for disobeying orders during the Indian Ocean battle, and once after Shinn brags after apparently killing Kira. Though the latter was rather unjustified as Heine tells Athrun that he had no right to punch Shinn for taking out someone who had proved time and again to be their enemy.
  • Shinn also finds himself once on the receiving end courtesy of Yzak, following a particularly insubordinate comment after Shinn returns Stella to the Alliance, and tells Yzak — his commanding officer — that as far as he's concerned, he's no better than the Alliance. Shinn gets knocked to the floor by the punch Yzak gives him in response.
• Crash-Into Hello: Shinn meets Stella this way at Bandirma, much later than their canon meeting at Armory One. During Meer's concert, Stella crashes into him backwards, so Shinn ends up accidentally groping her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Almost any fight between the Minerva pilots and enemy mooks. Apart from that, the most notable examples are:
  • The second and final battle between the Freedom and Saviour ends up this, with the Saviour being badly beaten in seconds. It is later implied (and eventually confirmed) that the Saviour had been sabotaged, which contributed to this.
  • Impulse vs. Freedom during Operation Angel Down, as in the series; especially notable because the Impulse is inferior in almost every respect to the Freedom, yet the latter is on the receiving end since Kira isn't trying to kill Shinn. It ends badly for Kira, and while he doesn't die, he's permanently crippled.
  • Almost any fight involving the Destiny, but especially the No-Holds-Barred Beatdown delivered to Lukas and the Thales in Phase 35.
  • Most of the combat engaged in by the Minerva itself, especially early on, tends to avert this due to the fact that the enemy fleets' usually overwhelming numerical superiority mean that the ship's crew has to fight hard for its wins, even with their substantial firepower advantage. As a result, instances in which the ship does not take substantial damage from enemy attacks are rare.
• Custom Uniform of Sexy:
  • Lunamaria, who wears a really short pink miniskirt with her uniform. Nobody seems to comment.
  • On the Alliance side there is Stella, whose uniform consists of a uniform jacket with the shoulders cut open over a sleeveless dress that's about as short as Luna's skirt.
  • Then there's Mudie. Her uniform features a sleeveless, midriff-baring jacket that is open to reveal her cleavage, no shirt, and a skirt that is even shorter.
• Death by Adaptation: Lacus is shot dead by a sniper early into the story. Kojiro Murdoch, the chief mechanic onboard the Archangel, is also killed in the ship's destruction. Also, Shams Couza suffers a horrifying death at the hands of a pack of Kerberos BuCUEs that maul him to death inside his mobile suit. That death was originally suffered by his teammate Mudie Holcroft in Stargazer. This encounter also takes place much earlier in the story's continuity than it did in their original series.
  • Averted with Kira; while he does not recover from Shinn destroying the Freedom, he survives, yet is crippled for life.
• Deflector Shield: Almost literally with the Positron Reflector Shield used by the Atlantic Federation. The Hyperion-G is equipped with an earlier form of the technology.
  • ZAFT introduces its own Beam Shields, which use different technology to attain the same result. Seen on the Knight Saviour, Destiny, and Legend Gundams, as well as the DOM Trooper.
  • Interestingly, the Knight Saviour, Destiny and Hyperion-G both retain a physical shield (which, in the former two's case, mounts a beam shield on top), but the Legend does not. The Atlantic Federation units, being non-humanoid mobile armors, do not have physical shield either.
• Defusing the Tyke-Bomb: Shinn tries this with Stella on a couple of occasions, the first occurring after he inadvertently used her Block Word shortly after saving her life. The second time is during the battle against the Destroy, and he would have succeeded if not for the Freedom. However, she is permanently defused by Dr. Kinney, who judging from her treatment of Stella throughout the story, saw the Extendeds more as the children they were rather than the weapons they were meant to be. Her defection and face turn ensue soon afterwards.
• Demoted to Extra: Rey Za Burrel. While he initially remains present as part of the supporting cast and is still someone Shinn is very close to, his role is severely reduced compared to his canon counterpart by way of putting him on a bus. He returns just in time for the final battle against Jibril, but then is Killed Off for Real in the true final battle against Durendal and the Requiem, when Shinn is forced to kill him in a battle to the death.
• Double Weapon: The Sword Impulse, Freedom, Knight Saviour, Legend, and Destiny all have paired swords (which can be combined at the pommel to form one).
  • The Akatsuki also has one, which unlike the others is combined by default.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Unato Ema Seiran is crushed by a falling GOUF Ignited trying to flee Orb's authorities — which was his son Yuna's fate in the series. Slightly different from canon as Unato was in a car when the GOUF crashed down on him, killing him and his entourage.
• Dying Declarationof Love: Seems to be played heart-wrenchingly straight with Stella, when she confesses her love to Shinn as she goes out following the Destroy's defeat. The next chapter actually subverts it, since she is immediately revealed to be Not Quite Dead, and ultimately survives.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Shinn, who has gone through a Trauma Conga Line that began when his entire family was horrifically killed right before his eyes when he was just fourteen, and continues through to the end of the story. In stark contrast to the canon, where Shinn was heavily demoted for war crimes committed while assisting Durendal, this story's ending sees him a war hero after contributing to Durendal's defeat, with a mentally well Stella still by his side after everything they went through.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Yzak, when he discovers close-range beam weapons e.g. Beam Sabers, Beam Axes can cut through a Positron Reflector Shield.
  • A more subtle one occurs much earlier when Shinn is able to identify a vulnerability in an enemy mobile armor's Positron Reflector, which he exploits to disable it. Athrun later replicates the same move.
• Evil Is Bigger: The Atlantic Federation seems to have a fixation with progressively bigger mobile armors, leading up to the Destroy. They get smaller again afterwards with the Thales and the Euclid.
• Evil Is Hammy: Lord Jibril and Yuna Roma Seiran.
• Eviler than Thou: Jibril and Durendal, with everyone else caught in the middle.
• Expy: The entire New Millennium mobile suit line is both this and a Shout-Out to the Zeon mobile suits of the original Gundam, right down to using the same names (ZAKU, GOUF, DOM, etc.).
• Fantastic Racism: The Atlantic Federation, of course, and Big Bad Jibril and his cohorts. Mudie Holcroft (of the Eurasian Federation) also counts initially, as she was trained by Lukas O'Donnell. She must learn to put her racism aside when she finds she has to ally with Coordinators against Lukas and the people he works for following the Battle of Hamburg.
• Fun with Acronyms: The story, like the series it's based on, is filled with it: GUNDAM, ZAKU (Bonus points for nested acronyms, as the Z stands for "ZAFT"), GOUF, DOM, as well as DRAGOON, and the mobile weapon designation codes used by all factions (ZGMF, MBF, GAT, TSX, etc...). Also OMNI, PLANT, ZAFT, FAITH, and SEED, of course.
• Grey-and-Gray Morality: Throughout; the only truly, unarguably evil character is still Jibril.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: When Shinn tosses the Blast Impulse's Beam Javelin into the Abyss Gundam's cockpit, Auel Neider ends up getting impaled so forcefully that the Laser Blade bisects him, violently ending his life. Enemy mooks have also suffered this fate at Shinn's hands on a few occasions.
• High-Heel–Face Turn: Stella, the only female Phantom Pain pilot, who defects to ZAFT to be with Shinn. Doubles as Defecting for Love.
• Hot-Blooded: Shinn. Also Yzak, to a slightly lesser degree due to being older and more experienced.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: All over the place. Kira (who fails to save Lacus from getting shot by a sniper, and is still likely hurting over the death of Flay) and Shinn (who lost his entire family, and then almost loses Stella this way) are the main examples, and this is in fact one of the things that drive the actions of both throughout the story.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: This seems to very much be Shinn's thing. For instance, he kills Auel Neider this way, hurling his Blast Impulse's beam javelin into the cockpit of the Abyss just like in the series. He also does to the Freedom, with the Storm Impulse using one of its Heavy Anti-MS Swords. Also used occasionally against enemy mooks too. In the final battle, he defeats and kills Rey in this manner by impaling the Legend's torso.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shinn has serious issues that result in him being brash, hot-headed, somewhat arrogant and downright disrespectful, as exemplified in his attitude towards multiple characters such as Athrun and Cagalli, and even towards his commanding officer on multiple occasions. But under the surface, he is a genuinely kind person who is fiercely protective of his friends...and then he meets and eventually falls in love with Stella, who brings this aspect of his character even more.
• Karma Houdini: Very downplayed in the case of Stella. During her rampage across Eurasia in the Destroy, she levels three cities and kills several million people. This is never brought up following her Heel–Face Turn. Possibly justified because a)., she was manipulated into doing so by Lukas, and b)., very few people actually know that she was the pilot.
• Katanas Are Just Better: Averted — The GINN High-Maneuver Type II units used by the zealots instigating the Colony Drop use katanas, but they are hopelessly outclassed by newer beam weapon-equipped mobile suits. The only reason they last as long as they did is that each and every one of them — their leader Sato, especially — is an experienced veteran, while all but a handful of their opponents are rookies.
• Killed Off for Real: Lacus Clyne, who is killed in her second appearance with a 12.7x99mm rifle round to the chest. Also Rey, and most of the villains.
• Kill the Cutie:
  • Lacus Clyne, beloved Idol Singer of the PLANT colonies, dies at the hands of an assassin right near the start, forcing Kira to take to the field.
  • Averted with Stella. Though Kira nearly kills her trying to stop the Destroy's rampage, he is prevented from delivering the finishing blow by Shinn. Despite extremely severe injuries, Stella ultimately survives.
• Knight in Sour Armor: The once-idealistic Shinn has become jaded and cynical as a result of having witnessed the particularly gruesome death of his family due to crossfire from the dueling Freedom and Calamity Gundams during the evacuation of Orb, but still fights for what are essentially noble reasons. Things only get worse for him with the apparent death of Rey, followed by severe injuries inflicted to first Heine, then Athrun, and then Stella's near-death in Hamburg. Later on, he is shown on one occasion to be suffering from violent nightmares brought on by the things he has seen and done over the course of the war.

• Land, Sea, Sky: The aerial-combat Chaos, amphibious Abyss, and ground-combat Gaia, in the first part of the story. One is a Mobile Armor, the other two are transformable Mobile Suits each with appropriate Meaningful Name.
• Large Ham: Jibril, a specialist in Chewing the Scenery. Durendal also has his moments, but more as a Cold Ham.
• Latex Space Suit: The pilot's flight/space suits, as usual.
• Macross Missile Massacre: SOP in every single ship-to-ship engagement: Although both conventional and beam-firing naval artillery is present and used, the primary strategy of most naval forces on both sides is to launch massive numbers of missiles at whatever they're targeting.
  • Used to absolutely devastating effect by Yzak very early in Operation Angel Down: He predicts that the Archangel will evade his attack by rolling to the side, and when it does, he unleashes every single one of the Minerva's port-side missile launchers as well as most of its top-mounted cannons. The Minerva succeeds in hammering at the same spot on the relatively vulnerable underside of the Archangel's hull over and over as it passes, dealing it a crippling blow.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": Pretty much the whole cast's reaction when the Destroy first appears. And again when Requiem is fired (both times). And again when Meer publicly reveals that she is an impostor of Lacus on a worldwide broadcast.
• Meaningful Name: Several examples, some of which have been noted above.
  • The Destiny's two BFS are named "Moralltach", which is Gaelic for "Great Fury". Now consider Shinn's temper for a moment.
    • The Destiny also features a single smaller beam blade mounted to its shield called "Beagalltach", or "Little Fury".
  • In the series, Jibril is simply referred to by his surname or as "Lord Jibril". In this version, he has a first name: Teivel, which means exactly what it sounds like.
  • The Kerberos BuCUE, named after the three-headed hellhound of Greek mythology. Guess what it looks like.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Every named pilot that's not dead by the middle of the story. Shinn, Yzak, and Mudie each get two.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed example with Shinn, who after a brief conversation in which he apologizes to Athrun for having apparently killed Kira, finally puts the pieces together and realizes that the stranger he met in Orb, who was nothing if not cordial towards him, and the pilot of the Freedom are one and the same. He feels like absolute crap over it, and on a few occasions afterwards is mentioned to still be struggling to come to terms with it. Ultimately, when they meet face-to-face again in the epilogue and Shinn realizes that it is his fault Kira is crippled, he feels guilty about it, and ends up apologizing.
  • Kira himself provides another example. When he and Shinn first meet in Orb early in the story, Shinn appears visibly distressed, and when Kira asks about it, Shinn tells him what the Freedom did to his family. Kira is understandably distraught, and apologizes. He is shown to still be distressed over what happened much later, after his crippling injury at Shinn's hands during Operation Angel Down. In their final meeting in the epilogue, Kira once again apologizes for what happened to his family, and it is this that ultimately leads Shinn to finally find it in himself to let go of the grudge he has held for so long and forgive Kira for what happened.
• Mythology Gag: Numerous ones.
  • The Impulse, to both the original Gundam and Gundam MKII.
  • The Destiny Gundam, to the Zeta Gundam, the V2 Gundam, the Gundam F91, and Tallgeese II.
  • The Akatsuki, to the Hyaku-Shiki.
  • The Destroy, to both the Big Zam and, in the case of the first one, the Psycho Gundam, due to its color scheme and pilot.
  • Heine Westenfluss, to Ramba Ral; Heine pilots a GOUF Ignited, and even reuses Ramba Ral's classic line about his machine being "NO ZAKU!" Ironically, Yzak's GOUF Ignited is the one that is in the original's blue colors, while Heine's is bright, two-tone orange. The mass-produced model, meanwhile, is in dull-brown colors inspired by the Gouf Flight Type.
  • Though the two characters are completely different in nearly every aspect, Miriallia Haw's cameo as a freelance photojournalist still references Kai Shiden's similar cameo in Zeta Gundam.
  • Shinn and Stella, as mentioned under Composite Character above.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Kira, as pointed out by both Cagalli and Athrun; his abduction of Cagalli is what allowed the Seirans to extend their influence and send the Orb Fleet to aid the Atlantic Federation.
  • A case could probably be made for Shinn, as well; his decision to return Stella to the Alliance immediately led to her being made the Destroy's pilot and sent on a rampage that cost millions of lives.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Subverted. The Big Bad, Gilbert Durendal, gets Kira to come out of retirement by assassinating his girlfriend... except... Kira never makes it to Durendal this time, as Shinn takes Kira out in the Impulse vs. Freedom fight, destroying the Freedom and rendering him out of action for life.
• N.G.O. Superpower: Blue Cosmos/Logos.
• No One Could Survive That!: Played with in the case of Kira and the Freedom's explosion. He does survive, but is crippled for life. Also Rey, who nearly died before being rescued following his ZAKU being shot down, and was left horribly scarred.
• Not Quite Dead: Stella, who is critically injured but survives the Destroy's destruction. Later revealed to have been the case for both Rey and Kira as mentioned above. Lukas O'Donnell also does this, only to be Killed Off for Real in his next combat sortie a couple of chapters later.
• No-Sell: The Hyperion-G is equipped with a cannon specifically designed to fire through its own reflector field, making it the ONLY mobile suit capable of attacking a reflector-field equipped mobile armor from long range.
  • On the flip side, because they don't use the same technology as the Alliance the beam shields of ZAFT mobile suits can in fact defend against the Hyperion-G's weapons, though this comes up only briefly in the final battle.
  • Phase-Shift Armor is a severely downplayed example due to the ubiquity of beam weapons, but it remains highly effective against shell-firing weapons and conventional explosives, which are still in wide use.
  • On the opposite end, the Akatsuki's "Yata-no-Kagami" not only no-sells beam weapons, it reflects them back at the attacking mobile suit. The caveat is that it only works with long-range beam weapons. As Shinn promptly demonstrates, a beam saber will still cut through its armor like butter. Additionally, it is highly vulnerable to shell-firing weapons, though this comes up only once in the story.
• Nuke 'em: The Atlantic Federation tries to do this to the PLANT colonies again - it doesn't end well.
• Older and Wiser: The returning SEED cast, and especially Athrun, who acts as a Big Brother Mentor to Shinn, with significant impact on the latter's growth over the course of the story.
• Omniscient Morality License: Kira and the Archangel, like canon believe this... before Cagalli rips them a new one when she's abducted. Athrun later calls Kira out on their actions as well. Kira isn't stopped by their objections, unfortunately, and only stops when Shinn defeats him and leaves him crippled.
• One-Man Army: Anyone piloting a Destroy — mostly. Also, Kira in the Freedom; Athrun and Shinn, especially after their Mid-Season Upgrade. Rey, in the couple of times he sorties in the Legend, counts as well.
• Original Character: Several, a couple of which are also shout-outs. Most notable original characters play only a supporting role: Captain Bernard MacCaffrey, the scientists Martin Rice and Megan Kinney, and President Baum and Vice-President Marshall of the Eurasian Federation are the main ones, along with Orb's Representative Kayabuki.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Averted and played straight on separate occasions with Athrun's "Alex Dino" identity and the attendant disguise, which basically consists of a pair of Cool Shades. At the beginning of the story it lasts precisely until the moment he opens his mouth, at which point he is instantly recognized by first Yzak, then Dearka. Later on he runs into Miriallia, who plays this straight as she does not recognize him until he removes the aforementioned shades.
• Praetorian Guard:
  • FAITH (Fast Acting Integrated Tactical Headquarters), a ZAFT élite Special Forces unit that only answers to Durendal and the Supreme Council - in practice, mostly Durendal.
  • The Eurasian Federation has the analogous Blackbird Squadron/501st Autonomous Mobile Corps.
• Precision F-Strike: Yzak frequently does this, as well as the occasional Cluster F-Bomb. Also, Shinn on one occasion.
• Put on a Bus: A couple of characters. In most cases, The Bus Came Back eventually.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Shinn Asuka, a rare heroic variant due to him being Hot-Blooded and one hell of an Ace Pilot.
• Red Shirt: Contains the usual subversion in the case of ZAFT red coats such as Shinn, Lunamaria, Rey, and Heine, who are among the most highly skilled pilots in the series.
• The Reveal: A couple of minor ones concerning first Athrun, then Meer learning about Lacus's assassination. More major ones occur when Durendal is revealed to be the Big Bad, and almost immediately afterwards when he is deposed in a bloodless coup and exposed as a Manipulative Bastard to the entire world.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Shinn during Operation Angel Down, which results in the destruction of the Freedom and apparent death of its pilot.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Unlike her canon counterpart, Cagalli is very proactive in undermining or circumventing the Atlantic Federation-sympathetic Seirans at every opportunity, with help from Rondo Mina Sahaku. She is not always successful, but of her most significant three attempts to do so, two are successful.
• Say My Name: A few examples, including:
  • Kira, when Lacus is assassinated right in front of him.
  • Shinn, when Stella is severely injured and nearly dies in his arms
  • Athrun, when Kira is apparently killed by Shinn.
• Scope Snipe: Canard Pars kills the sniper who shot Lacus in this manner.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Shinn, during the Indian Ocean battle, breaks off combat to level an Alliance base and free civilian prisoners being used as forced labor. When Athrun administers Corporal Punishment afterwards, Shinn responds with this trope. And gets slapped again.
• Shout-Out:
  • Most Original Characters are this, such as Drs. Martin Rice and Megan Kinney, the two scientists in charge of "maintaining" the Extendeds.
  • Vice-President Brennan Marshall is one to Lieutenant Commander Brian Marshall of Gundam Seed Destiny Project R, in which the author participated. Marshall's boss, President William Baum, is likewise very closely based on Project R's President Dietrich Baum.
  • Perhaps the most obvious is the Battle Couple Shinn and Stella, who started off on opposite sides of the conflict before her Heel–Face Turn, and who subsequently pilot machines colored blue and red respectively.
  • The Eurasian Federation Special Operations unit to which Sven and Mudie belong is called the 501st.
  • One of the most prominent members of Orb's government apart from Cagalli and the Seirans is one of Cagalli's closest allies, Representative Motoko Kayabuki.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Several examples. Excluding the prologue, notable ones are:
  • Mudie Holcroft, who is spared the brutal death she suffered in Stargazer. As mentioned above, Shams suffers this fate instead, and Mudie is motivated to avenge him.
  • Heine Westenfluss, who is badly injured in his GOUF Ignited's destruction at the hands of Stella, but survives.
  • Colonel Todaka, who survives the encounter with the Minerva off the coast of Crete, where in the canon, Todaka was killed by a raging Shinn as he and the Impulse violently tore the Takemikazuchi down. He goes on to play a part in the final battle.
  • Stella Loussier, who is near-fatally injured in the Destroy's destruction, but is immediately rescued by Shinn and, after three months of constant medical treatment, makes a full recovery — unlike in the series, in which she died in Shinn's arms.
  • Meer Campbell, as none of the events that led to her death in the series take place in this version. She survives, and in fact plays a significant part in the events that lead to Durendal's defeat.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Shinn and Stella, who are on opposite sides of the war... at least initially. After she nearly dies, they do get their happy ending: By the epilogue, they are married and living together in the PLANTs.
• State Sec: Phantom Pain, though kind of downplayed, much as in the series. Technically an Atlantic Federation Special Ops unit, the 81st Independent Battalion. In actuality, it is controlled by Blue Cosmos/Logos.
• Stripperiffic: Most of Meer's various outfits and all three entries under Custom Uniform of Sexy, above (especially Mudie's).
• Super Mode: SEED Mode, the ill-explained ability of certain characters to suddenly turn their abilities up to eleven, which usually (but not always) immediately precedes a severe beatdown. There appears to be two methods this ability activates:
  • Unstoppable Rage: Shinn, to a T. At least early on, up to and including Operation Angel Down, mentioned previously. Afterwards, his character development leads to the same transition Kira and Athrun already experienced in Gundam SEED to the second method.
  • Tranquil Fury: Kira and Athrun. In the last third or so of the story, Shinn as well — best exemplified by his reaction to the destruction of Stella's Storm Impulse (she escapes unharmed in the Core Splendor) by Lukas O'Donnell and the Thales. Instead of flying into a rage, he instead delivers a perfectly calm Pre Ass Kicking One Liner before proceeding to brutally and completely curb-stomp the one responsible, countering Lukas in every way before carving the Thales in half and blasting Lukas into oblivion.
• Super Prototype: The Gundams, of course. Also, the Alliance fields a series of very large Super Prototype mobile armors. The limited-production DOM Trooper and Hyperion-G technically count as well.
• Technical Pacifist: Kira, who almost exclusively aims for the head and limbs of any mobile suit he attacks. This comes back to bite him in the ass hard during Operation Angel Down, when Shinn exploits this tendency to his own advantage and soundly defeats the Freedom while piloting the significantly inferior Impulse, destroying it and leaving Kira permanently crippled.
• Theme Naming:
  • Most of the weapons of the Minerva have names derived from Wagner operas and/or Norse mythology, as does the Wave-Motion Gun "Nibelung". The same theme is present with the Archangel and the Izumo and Niranjan classes.
  • Nearly all BFS in the series are named after mythological swords from British or Gaelic mythology.
    • The Impulse's Excalibur and Caliburn (wielded by the Sword and Storm Impulse respectively), and the GOUF Ignited's Carnwennan are named after weapons wielded by King Arthur - the first two being swords, while Carnwennan was a dagger (despite the GOUF's Carnwennan being a full-length longsword with beam emitters).
    • The Destiny's Moralltach (Great Fury) and Beagalltach (Little Fury) are named after the swords of Gaelic mythological hero Diarmuid Ua Dhuibne.
    • The Strike Noir's Fragarach is named after the sword of the Gaelic mythological King Nuadha Airgetlám, though it had other wielders including Manannán mac Lir and Lugh Lámfada.
    • The "Caladbolg" beam saber wielded by the Sabre Dagger is named after the sword of Gaelic mythological figure Fergus mac Róich.
  • A thematically similar non-sword example: The Blu Duel's "Gáe Bulg" linear bazooka is named after the spear of Gaelic mythological hero Cú Chulainn.
  • The Blast Impulse's Kerberos beam cannons (and the Destiny's related Megálos Kerberos) and the Gunner ZAKU's Orthros are named after the Greek mythological three-headed hellhound and its two-headed sibling.
  • The various classes of warships all tend to follow certain naming themes, some of which are carried over from the series. For a few examples, the Agamemnon-class ships all have names taken from Greek mythology, the Drake-class tend to be named after historical military officers, while Orb ships tend towards names taken from Japanese mythology.
• Transformation Is a Free Action: Subverted occasionally with the Impulse's Silhouette Packs. In at least two instances, enemy units attempt to attack the Silhouette Pack while it is en route towards the Impulse, but are prevented from doing so by someone else intervening. In another instance, Shinn explicitly requests and obtains cover fire from one of his teammates during the docking process.
• Transforming Mecha: Several: both Saviour Gundams, the Gaia, Abyss, and the mass-produced Murasame.
• Trigger Phrase: The Extendeds each have a pre-programmed "Block Word", which functions as a Berserk Button of sorts.
• Tyke Bomb: The Extendeds, or "Biological CPU": they are put through Training from Hell practically from birth in order to create human weapons, and are generally regarded as little more than expendable parts used to control mobile suits. Dr. Kinney and Captain MacCaffrey are exceedingly rare exceptions to the norm, as they actually see them as the children they are rather than as living weapons.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: Mentioned in Phase 23 as Shinn ponders how he feels after defeating the Freedom.
• Villains Never Lie: Gilbert Durendal, with his speeches in the early part of the story.
• Wave-Motion Gun: Multiple examples, including the Tannhauser and Lohengrin positron blaster cannons; The Destroy, which beam-spams them; Then there's Nibelung and Requiem, which are this turned up to eleven.
• Weapons of Mass Destruction: The nukes, Requiem, Nibelung, and the Destroy.
• Welcome Back, Traitor: Dearka and Athrun. However, both are stripped of their elite status and required to re-enlist (which was the case only for Dearka in the series).
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Shinn blames what happens to his family on Cagalli, and he is very obvious about it. He is called out a number of times on it, usually by Athrun, and eventually gets over it.
  • Shinn is also called out by Heine on his rather naïve decision to return Stella to the Alliance.
  • Kira is called out by Athrun on the fact that his interfering in battles actually makes things worse, resulting in more casualties rather than stopping the fighting. Kira refuses to listen to reason and keeps on with his interventions until Operation Angel Down happens.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Stella, who is put into the Destroy and goes on a city-destroying rampage, destroying everything in sight and killing millions because she is terrified that they will kill her. She is only stopped by Kira violently disabling the Destroy, but Shinn intervenes in time to keep him from killing her... but not enough to stop her from suffering serious injuries.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: Whether Durendal is behind everything that happens in the story or is just very good at altering his plans to take advantage of events as they occur is up for debate for much of the story. It turns out to be a little of both.
• Zen Survivor: Athrun to Shinn and the other Minerva pilots.

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