User blog:Derax-Pagani/The Spriggan 12: What Could Have Been.

Bonjour mes petites salopes! Seeing as how yesterday I finished my MSc - I'm still in analytical/academic mode for those of you that don't work it out by the end of this - and the title of Monday's chapter hinting at much Brandish, I thought let's have a pseudo celebration by exploring the potential of the current arc's main villains.

But before we get started, a big thank you to those of you that participated in my survey in early July! Your insights and perceptions of scanlators turned out to be invaluable, so thank's again!

What Are The Spriggan 12?
Now this might seem axiomatic, seeing as how the Alvarez arc has been going on since Chapter 438, we've known pretty much since the get-go who and what the 12 are. But bare with me on this.



The Spriggan 12 are described as being the bodyguards of Alvarez' Emperor. In reality though, they're more like a combination of the military's highest ranking generals, the Knights of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, and the Knights of the Round for those of you that know about Code Geass.

So what exactly does that description actually mean?

Well, looking at the Round Table line, it means that the 12 are the monarch's court of the most prominent mages. There's probably more to this line seeing as how Mashima has stated there's a reason for there being 12 shields, as well as how in some interpretations of Arthurian legends that there was always an empty seat at the table to represent Judas' betrayal of Jesus - look it up, sometimes parallels were inserted into the legends with Jesus and the 12 Apostles.

The generals and the CG Knights of the Round (KotR) lines are a bit easier to explain. Within the Code Geass universe, under the reign of Charles zi Britannia - we're ignoring Lelouch's reign here to keep this as simple as possible - the KotR were the strongest/best warriors in the Empire, who were granted aristocratic privileges enjoyed only by the upper echelons of the royal family and nobility. Unlike the regular military, where ethnicity and nobility basically determined how far up the ranks you'd get, the KotR were granted their titles solely based on ability, skill, achievement and the like. As a result members were only ever accountable to the monarch, not even heirs to the throne could question or punish a Round's conduct.

Furthermore, much like what we've seen with the 12 shields, the Rounds had the option to have, what basically amounted to, their own personal army if they wanted. Further comparisons are difficult to make as only two members of these personal forces were ever seen in the main series, of which they didn't survive long... What we did learn from them though, was that personal forces of Rounds are answerable to the Round they serve directly under, other Rounds as was seen when the Knight of One, Bismark Waldstein, ordered for the deployment of the Knight of Ten's personal squadron, and presumably the monarch for obvious reasons.

Evidence of similar conduct is seen in Fairy Tail when Heine Lunasea berates her squad-mate, Juliet Sun, stating that whilst they are under the command of one Spriggan, they're still answerable to other Shields too. As well as this, much like with with the Knights of Three, Six and Seven, it is not compulsory for Shields to have personal forces.

The final comparison to make with the KotR and the 12 is that despite their aristocratic privileges, there is still a rank structure within each. Within the KotR, the leader is the Knight of One, of which all other Rounds are answerable to. Distinctions are less clear cut within the 12, a rank structure exists, however it has yet to be explored or explained at any great length or detail.

The 12 and Their Roles
Following on from this, let's look at the known roles each member of the 12 have within the empire. We're not looking at their role within the story yet, we'll look at that later (possibly in another blog).


 * August 'The Magic King': All we know so far is that August is the Shield's leader, stupidly powerful and has an infinite knowledge of magic. Apparently.


 * Irene Belserion 'The Scarlet Despair': Similarly we don't know too much about Irene. She completely rearranged the physical geography of Fiore, and has a habit of enchanting stuff. Within the 12 she seems to be second - on the hierarchy - only to August.


 * Larcade Dragneel: Compared with August and Irene, we have a PhD's breadth of knowledge on those two in comparison with Larcade. All we know at the time of posting is that he's Zeref's secret weapon against Acnologia, and that his magic allows him to remove the souls of individuals from their bodies leaving them in a state of apparent euphoria.


 * Invel Yura 'The Winter General': Invel seems to have the most normal job of the 12, being the chief of staff of the Imperial Military. From what we've seen of him, he is the highest ranking regular officer in Alvarez and Zeref's aide-de-camp. His leadership skills are also remarkable in that he's capable of effectively leading a force of one million troops on his own. Which is by no means an easy feat. Despite this repertoire of abilities, his magic is somewhat simple; ice magic and the ability to bend people's will.


 * Wall Eehto 'The Adjudicator': Unlike Invel who has an obvious job description, Wall's initially appears equally obvious. However upon the reveal of his actual body, appearance and mannerisms, quite what his role within the empire is left somewhat vague. His proxy had the behaviour one expects of a Supreme, High, Crown or District Court Judge, as well as speech patterns associated with an obsessed or evil judge. Its magic too was fascinating in Weakness. The real Wall though seems insane, at least with his typical personality settings. Upon his reveal he even stated that he 'should drop the legal talk.' His magic took a nosedive too, seemingly just being alchemy. However, his ability to recreate Etherion is an ability most befitting of a member of the 12.


 * Jacob Lessio: Just looking at Jacob, one can immediately tell that he fits the modern era's archetype of an assassin. His role within the empire is obvious; the Crown's problem fixer, his magic allowing him to remove anyone from existence. Questions are raised though as to why Alvarez needs an assassin, let alone one so potent, in the first place. Typically state-assassins are used to remove unwanted voices - look at the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko for reference - or political opposition - Hitler, Stalin, Castro, all are examples of dictators that had methods of silencing opposition to the regime. We currently know nearly nothing of the political makeup, history or laws of Alvarez, and based upon what we've seen of the general populace, within Vistarion anyway, there appears to be resounding support for the Emperor.


 * Dimaria Yesta 'Valkyrie': Dimaria's role within the empire seems to be of the military's ace, being able to turn the tide of battle in the blink of an eye. At least that's how it appears to mortals that survive her onslaught. Being the host to the god of time certainly has its benefits. Beyond this, there appears to be little more to Dimaria's role other than being an effective soldier.


 * Bloodman 'The Grim Reaper': As an etherious composed of magic barrier particles, Bloodman's role within the Empire is clearly that of head executioner. Having the curse and magic of the demons of Tartaros is also a boon to his own abilities. Not much more to add about him to be honest.


 * Brandish μ 'The Country Demolisher': From Brandish' epithet, it's easy to assume that her role in the empire is basically weapon of mass destruction, being able to change the size of islands and nations to little more than a drop in the ocean. However, her epithet hasn't been quite justified by her role. Her initial task was counter-espionage, being tasked with tracking Sorano down. Failing that, she shrank Caracole island to a foothold as an example to FT of her and her fellow Shield's abilities. Beyond that, the only other role she's occupied has been that of pseudo-negotiator, in which she basically hosts them with metaphoric guns to the heads of her opposition.


 * Ajeel Ramal 'The Desert King': Quite what Ajeel's role is in the empire is a freaking mystery. He lead the initial invasion force against Fiore but beyond that any role militarily, political, civilian or what is completely up in the air. Enforcer is a possibility based on dialogue describing the history of his Ant Lion's Pit spell, but beyond that it's a mystery. His magic as well is the most mundane of the 12, taking the commode from Invel because Invel at least has the ability to bend people's will. There really isn't much to Ajeel it seems.


 * God Serena 'Hybrid Theory': The wielder of eight dragon slayer lacrima and a traitor to Fiore. Serena's defection to the empire and instant ascension to the 12 bares comparison with that of Suzaku Kururugi's ascension to the Knights of the Round. A Japanese boy with remarkable piloting skills, that would normally struggle to ascend the ranks of Britannia's military due to the system's inherent racism, was granted the title of a Round because of his capturing of the most wanted man in the world. Serena's rise to a position of the 12 isn't documented at all as the story's focus isn't about him, it still warrants mentioning of how accommodating the Empire is of foreign nationals. A parallel could be drawn with Edward Snowden and the Russian Federation.


 * Neinhart: Finally, Neinhart's role within the Empire is even less obvious than that of Ajeel's. His magic is incredible, being able to recreate the dead almost perfectly is quite simply amazing. But what purpose he actually serves in day to day life in Alvarez is just not possible to determine at this juncture.

What Could Have Been
Annoyingly, I've been at this for many more hours than I would've liked, and it's already too long in my opinion. So I'm going to split this up into at least two parts, the second part will be out tomorrow most likely. In which the actual potential that the 12 have/had will be discussed.

In the meantime, have a discussion yourselves as to what you think could have been. We'll be back tomorrow folks.