(no subject)
Character
Name: Dilandau Albatou
Fandom: The Vision of Escaflowne
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Time Period: Before he goes completely insane, so shortly after his face is scarred by Van Fanel. Somewhere around episode six or seven.
Wing Color: Red. Dilandau is clearly all about red. Red is anger. Red is fire.
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Vision_of_Escaflowne_characters#Dilandau_Albatou
Personality: First of all, Dilandau is a villain, and he can't stand "heroic crap" of any kind. He is not nice. He is bratty, short-tempered, murderous, cruel, creepy, sadistic, and just plain mean. He's the type who would kick puppies solely for the sake of making someone else cry.
Next, he's emotional to say the very least. He rarely seems to be in just an ordinary, normal mood. It's always the very height of any emotion, whether it be joy, sorrow, excitement, or whatever else. Instead of making any attempt to mask these feelings, he uses them to work himself up into a frenzy, hellbent on destroying anyone and anything that enters his path.
He takes his turbulent emotions and turns them into a manic joy over sheer, mindless destruction. This makes him a strong and dangerous adversary in battle. Sometimes, all the anger and rage that he feels seem to come from out of nowhere. When he randomly attacks Van in episode five, screaming, "I hate you! I should have killed you when I had the chance!" comes to mind.
He is obsessive, vain, a perfectionist in every way, and also an incendiary. Collateral damage means nothing to him in the heat of battle. He does not take lightly to insults nor does it take very much to piss him off. In episode three, he mutters, "Allen Schezar. Your luck ran out the day you made an enemy out of me." What was so offensive? Allen blatantly lied to him and also declared Hitomi his "new lover" and gave her a kiss on the cheek -- very offensive. Combined, these things merit complete destruction of Allen's property along with the deaths of several men. It really doesn't take much to make Dilandau go to war with someone. In fact, he readily invents excuses to start fights.
"Asturia is our ally," Folken says in episode three.
"With your stealth cloaks, there'll be no evidence that Zaibach was behind the attack," he responds, before marching out of the room and sending orders to prepare for battle.
In some scenes he comes off as genuinely deranged or insane, giggling girlishly with glee as he sets entire cities on fire, and then purposely pushing the responsibility onto Van. "Hey, it's your fault. The city's burning because of you; my cheek is throbbing because of you... so die!"
Not that Dilandau actually cares about the innocents he's killed; he just thinks that Van is the scum of Gaea. The absolute disgust he feels towards the young king shines through in almost every scene. When they first meet face to face, he doesn't even give Van the time of day. He just narrows his eyes and pushes him roughly to the side, placing Hitomi's strange clothing as a higher priority than what he would see as a homely and stupid kid with a big mouth.
In these early episodes, he is confident and in charge. He rarely pays attention to anything that Folken, his supposed-to-be superior, has to say. He even refers to him as an "amateur." Instead, he does what he wants, often going completely beyond all reason and incapable of being controlled.
When the tables are turned, however, we see a different, more vulnerable, side to him. His downfall starts with the scarring of his face in episode five. It's clearly a biting blow to his ego. He constantly rubs at the wound, repeating that it "stings," and he then spends time drinking wine, scratching and finally smashing the bottle with a knife, shrieking that he's tired of sitting around and ready to go into another battle. It seems like fighting is all he knows how or wants to do.
When his Dragonslayers are killed by Van, it means more to him than just a few casualties of war. It's the breaking point of his sanity. He apparently relied upon them and needed them.
By appearances, he was a bossy leader, not hesitating to hit or slap for any minor mistake, but they were probably a tight knit group. Dilandau immediately revenges the death of one of his soldiers, Miguel, by killing the Doppleganger that was responsible. "It was horrible what you did to him," he says. (In other words, Dilandau can do what he wants, but mess with him or his Slayers and you're a terrible person that deserves death.)
Likewise, the Dragonslayers had no qualms about coming back from the dead to defend their leader from Van. Most likely, they were the only people they had in each other's lives. The Dragonslayers, although Dilandau would probably never see it this way, were probably the closest things to friends that he'd ever had. Also, due to his Celena years, he has a deeply etched fear of being alone. So long as the Dragonslayers were still around, he could tell himself that he wasn't truly alone.
I would tentatively say that a lot of his issues have to do with his upbringing and a need to constantly be in control. I imagine that being trained your entire life to be the perfect soldier, while also being treated like an object for the Zaibach sorcerers to experiment on, would leave one with both extreme perfectionist tendencies and a strong desire to find control in whatever ways possible.
As a perfectionist, each blow to his ego, starting with the scarring of his face, slowly pushes him closer to complete insanity. He's lonely, depressed, and wants nothing more than to lose himself in war and victory and when that's not possible he hits the bottle. When things begin to backfire on him then that's it, and for the rest of the series, after the loss of his dragonslayers in episode 13, he lies around in a crazed and drunken stupor, mustering up the strength only to go into battle with the hope that he can finally kill Van.
Strengths:
- He's a Captain in the Zaibachian army at age fifteen. He's an excellent fighter in both hand to hand combat and weaponry (including guymelefs).
- He's also not a bad tactician and can usually handle himself well in battle, commanding his Dragonslayers, telling them where to go, what to do, etc. He knows what position is best to attack from (Example: Episode three, in some kind of practiced formation, the Dragonslayers attack the Crusade from above.) He also haughtily tells Folken, "An amateur like you have no right telling me how to run a battle." Dilandau knows how to run a battle with efficiency and maximum destruction.
-He's tenacious and obsessive as all hell. This is evident through out the series. Even in the last episodes, after it's obvious that Zaibach has been defeated, he refuses to give up and stop fighting.
Weaknesses:
-He's incredibly impulsive and tends to just do things without thinking thoroughly about consequences. (He curiously touches the orb on Escaflowne, trying to make it work; he goes into battle against Van, impulsively, several times, and the consequences rarely work out well for him.)
-He seems not to view things in the longterm or think things through all the way. (Folken is the strategist, Dilandau the tactician. It's Folken that has to point out that Allen wouldn't allow himself to be herded by fire and is most likely hiding behind the waterfall.)
-Also, emotionally unbalanced... to the max. His emotions can be a strength or weakness, depending on how he uses them. At the beginning of the series, they're a strength, fueling his anger and making him a deadly weapon. By the end, he's so depressed and unstable that he's just not the same fighter that he was before.
Samples
First Person:
[Having his priorities in order, Dilandau has already found his uniform, diadem, and sword before discovering the journal. Some may have noticed him harassing the local villagers and generally being obnoxious.]
So. Is this how you rustics have taken to communicating with each other? With some sort of interactive journal system? I'm glad to see that Zaibach's technology has finally spread far enough to allow you backwater countrymen the benefit of transmitting pictures.
...
Dammit, someone say something, or is this piece of crap not even working!?
Ugh. I'll give you clueless hicks the benefit of the doubt, though I honestly don't know why I even bother. I should just roast you all and be done with it. Not like anyone would miss such a pitiful, provincial town. Besides, I know there's at least one freak hidden among you. You have only him to blame.
In case you simpletons haven't caught on yet, this is Dilandau Albatou, a captain of the Zaibach army, and I demand an explanation and an escort back to the floating fortress Vione, immediately.
I also want to know who's in charge of this little "operation." I don't take lightly to jokes and neither will my superiors. Who knows, though? If you comply quickly, I might be kind enough to change my mind and spare you your insignificant little lives.
And where the hell are my Slayers? [ with an increasingly shrill voice ] Gatti, Dallet, Chesta, Viole, Miguel! ... Report!!
[Upon hearing no word back from his Slayers, the journal is slammed shut in irritation.]
Third Person: Nature. He detested nature, and now it was all around him. He could even hear birds chirping, complemented so merrily by the sound of a babbling brook. How absolutely sickening. He hated these rural country dumps and the backwater simpletons that so often inhabited them.
Perhaps this was a dream, though dreamers rarely remembered going to sleep. He could remember lying down, back at the floating fortress, feeling only slightly nauseated after drinking far too much vino. He brought a hand to his face, knowing exactly where the wound was, the contours and shape already memorized, and the sharp sting of pain reassured him that it was still there. Nothing had changed. If only the entire embarrassing episode had been a dream; if only Van had been a dream.
It looked like he was in the outskirts of Fanelia. Well, then not all was lost. Perhaps he could find a dragon or two to kill before returning to Zaibach. No. He had no sword. He didn't even have a shirt. There was also what looked like a small village up ahead, and dragons rarely wandered so close to people.
He hated feeling vulnerable; he needed to get back to the Vione. There was work to be done. There was Van to neutralize. His slayers: where were they, and how could they have been so careless as to let this happen? The comforting feeling of rage was already beginning to take over. Perhaps they were nearby, but that was unlikely. They would know better than to leave him in the wilderness unattended, and unarmed, and in this condition. Then to whoever was responsible: there would be hell to pay.
He stood with the full intent of marching toward that village and demanding to be escorted back to Zaibach immediately. It was then that he noticed the dull pain coming from his back. Had he fallen? Something was not right. There was a fluttering.
He twisted and felt along his back with his hands, the best he could, horrified to find a pair of wings, like a Draconian. He actually gagged. What in the hell had happened to him? Sorcerers? He could feel his head going light.
Quickly, he forced himself to steady, the part of him that was a soldier already struggling to push everything towards the back of his mind and focus on the priorities. He couldn't afford to think about it yet, not until he was safe and back at the Vione. He ignored the haunting feeling that something horrible had happened and instead let the fury inside him grow while he looked at the rustic cluster of homes with undisguised disgust. Nothing mattered. He was still Dilandau Albatou, Zaibach's youngest military captain of an elite team of soldiers. Nothing could change that, and he planned to make sure that every denizen of that damnable little village knew exactly who they were dealing with.
Threadhopping with this character?: Sure. I don't mind.
Backtagging with this character?: Of course.
Hugging this character?: It's fine. You might get yelled at, though, and why the hell would you want to?
Giving this character a kiss?: Sure, but he'll probably kick you. :|
(Something more intimate?): Don't ruin my childhood. x_x
(Relationships?): Um. Not really his or my thing. Maybe if your character is extremely, extremely patient?
Punching this character (provided they can fight back): By all means. It's expected.
(Injury?): Just ask first. Again, it's kind of expected.
(Death?): Again, ask, and we'll see.
Is there anything you do not want mentioned near this character?: Nope. He's got a lot of touchy subjects, but that's just all the more fun for me.
Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character?: He is not nice. Your character will probably get yelled at. Be prepared for rage.
Anything else, please mention here: He's actually kind of naive. Not in the traditional sense, but in the sense that he thinks everything has to work out for him just because of who he is. It's not fun when he figures out that things don't work that way. Also, if you're patient and nice to him, he'll be extremely protective of you in return. ♥
Name: Dilandau Albatou
Fandom: The Vision of Escaflowne
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Time Period: Before he goes completely insane, so shortly after his face is scarred by Van Fanel. Somewhere around episode six or seven.
Wing Color: Red. Dilandau is clearly all about red. Red is anger. Red is fire.
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Vision_of_Escaflowne_characters#Dilandau_Albatou
Personality: First of all, Dilandau is a villain, and he can't stand "heroic crap" of any kind. He is not nice. He is bratty, short-tempered, murderous, cruel, creepy, sadistic, and just plain mean. He's the type who would kick puppies solely for the sake of making someone else cry.
Next, he's emotional to say the very least. He rarely seems to be in just an ordinary, normal mood. It's always the very height of any emotion, whether it be joy, sorrow, excitement, or whatever else. Instead of making any attempt to mask these feelings, he uses them to work himself up into a frenzy, hellbent on destroying anyone and anything that enters his path.
He takes his turbulent emotions and turns them into a manic joy over sheer, mindless destruction. This makes him a strong and dangerous adversary in battle. Sometimes, all the anger and rage that he feels seem to come from out of nowhere. When he randomly attacks Van in episode five, screaming, "I hate you! I should have killed you when I had the chance!" comes to mind.
He is obsessive, vain, a perfectionist in every way, and also an incendiary. Collateral damage means nothing to him in the heat of battle. He does not take lightly to insults nor does it take very much to piss him off. In episode three, he mutters, "Allen Schezar. Your luck ran out the day you made an enemy out of me." What was so offensive? Allen blatantly lied to him and also declared Hitomi his "new lover" and gave her a kiss on the cheek -- very offensive. Combined, these things merit complete destruction of Allen's property along with the deaths of several men. It really doesn't take much to make Dilandau go to war with someone. In fact, he readily invents excuses to start fights.
"Asturia is our ally," Folken says in episode three.
"With your stealth cloaks, there'll be no evidence that Zaibach was behind the attack," he responds, before marching out of the room and sending orders to prepare for battle.
In some scenes he comes off as genuinely deranged or insane, giggling girlishly with glee as he sets entire cities on fire, and then purposely pushing the responsibility onto Van. "Hey, it's your fault. The city's burning because of you; my cheek is throbbing because of you... so die!"
Not that Dilandau actually cares about the innocents he's killed; he just thinks that Van is the scum of Gaea. The absolute disgust he feels towards the young king shines through in almost every scene. When they first meet face to face, he doesn't even give Van the time of day. He just narrows his eyes and pushes him roughly to the side, placing Hitomi's strange clothing as a higher priority than what he would see as a homely and stupid kid with a big mouth.
In these early episodes, he is confident and in charge. He rarely pays attention to anything that Folken, his supposed-to-be superior, has to say. He even refers to him as an "amateur." Instead, he does what he wants, often going completely beyond all reason and incapable of being controlled.
When the tables are turned, however, we see a different, more vulnerable, side to him. His downfall starts with the scarring of his face in episode five. It's clearly a biting blow to his ego. He constantly rubs at the wound, repeating that it "stings," and he then spends time drinking wine, scratching and finally smashing the bottle with a knife, shrieking that he's tired of sitting around and ready to go into another battle. It seems like fighting is all he knows how or wants to do.
When his Dragonslayers are killed by Van, it means more to him than just a few casualties of war. It's the breaking point of his sanity. He apparently relied upon them and needed them.
By appearances, he was a bossy leader, not hesitating to hit or slap for any minor mistake, but they were probably a tight knit group. Dilandau immediately revenges the death of one of his soldiers, Miguel, by killing the Doppleganger that was responsible. "It was horrible what you did to him," he says. (In other words, Dilandau can do what he wants, but mess with him or his Slayers and you're a terrible person that deserves death.)
Likewise, the Dragonslayers had no qualms about coming back from the dead to defend their leader from Van. Most likely, they were the only people they had in each other's lives. The Dragonslayers, although Dilandau would probably never see it this way, were probably the closest things to friends that he'd ever had. Also, due to his Celena years, he has a deeply etched fear of being alone. So long as the Dragonslayers were still around, he could tell himself that he wasn't truly alone.
I would tentatively say that a lot of his issues have to do with his upbringing and a need to constantly be in control. I imagine that being trained your entire life to be the perfect soldier, while also being treated like an object for the Zaibach sorcerers to experiment on, would leave one with both extreme perfectionist tendencies and a strong desire to find control in whatever ways possible.
As a perfectionist, each blow to his ego, starting with the scarring of his face, slowly pushes him closer to complete insanity. He's lonely, depressed, and wants nothing more than to lose himself in war and victory and when that's not possible he hits the bottle. When things begin to backfire on him then that's it, and for the rest of the series, after the loss of his dragonslayers in episode 13, he lies around in a crazed and drunken stupor, mustering up the strength only to go into battle with the hope that he can finally kill Van.
Strengths:
- He's a Captain in the Zaibachian army at age fifteen. He's an excellent fighter in both hand to hand combat and weaponry (including guymelefs).
- He's also not a bad tactician and can usually handle himself well in battle, commanding his Dragonslayers, telling them where to go, what to do, etc. He knows what position is best to attack from (Example: Episode three, in some kind of practiced formation, the Dragonslayers attack the Crusade from above.) He also haughtily tells Folken, "An amateur like you have no right telling me how to run a battle." Dilandau knows how to run a battle with efficiency and maximum destruction.
-He's tenacious and obsessive as all hell. This is evident through out the series. Even in the last episodes, after it's obvious that Zaibach has been defeated, he refuses to give up and stop fighting.
Weaknesses:
-He's incredibly impulsive and tends to just do things without thinking thoroughly about consequences. (He curiously touches the orb on Escaflowne, trying to make it work; he goes into battle against Van, impulsively, several times, and the consequences rarely work out well for him.)
-He seems not to view things in the longterm or think things through all the way. (Folken is the strategist, Dilandau the tactician. It's Folken that has to point out that Allen wouldn't allow himself to be herded by fire and is most likely hiding behind the waterfall.)
-Also, emotionally unbalanced... to the max. His emotions can be a strength or weakness, depending on how he uses them. At the beginning of the series, they're a strength, fueling his anger and making him a deadly weapon. By the end, he's so depressed and unstable that he's just not the same fighter that he was before.
Samples
First Person:
[Having his priorities in order, Dilandau has already found his uniform, diadem, and sword before discovering the journal. Some may have noticed him harassing the local villagers and generally being obnoxious.]
So. Is this how you rustics have taken to communicating with each other? With some sort of interactive journal system? I'm glad to see that Zaibach's technology has finally spread far enough to allow you backwater countrymen the benefit of transmitting pictures.
...
Dammit, someone say something, or is this piece of crap not even working!?
Ugh. I'll give you clueless hicks the benefit of the doubt, though I honestly don't know why I even bother. I should just roast you all and be done with it. Not like anyone would miss such a pitiful, provincial town. Besides, I know there's at least one freak hidden among you. You have only him to blame.
In case you simpletons haven't caught on yet, this is Dilandau Albatou, a captain of the Zaibach army, and I demand an explanation and an escort back to the floating fortress Vione, immediately.
I also want to know who's in charge of this little "operation." I don't take lightly to jokes and neither will my superiors. Who knows, though? If you comply quickly, I might be kind enough to change my mind and spare you your insignificant little lives.
And where the hell are my Slayers? [ with an increasingly shrill voice ] Gatti, Dallet, Chesta, Viole, Miguel! ... Report!!
[Upon hearing no word back from his Slayers, the journal is slammed shut in irritation.]
Third Person: Nature. He detested nature, and now it was all around him. He could even hear birds chirping, complemented so merrily by the sound of a babbling brook. How absolutely sickening. He hated these rural country dumps and the backwater simpletons that so often inhabited them.
Perhaps this was a dream, though dreamers rarely remembered going to sleep. He could remember lying down, back at the floating fortress, feeling only slightly nauseated after drinking far too much vino. He brought a hand to his face, knowing exactly where the wound was, the contours and shape already memorized, and the sharp sting of pain reassured him that it was still there. Nothing had changed. If only the entire embarrassing episode had been a dream; if only Van had been a dream.
It looked like he was in the outskirts of Fanelia. Well, then not all was lost. Perhaps he could find a dragon or two to kill before returning to Zaibach. No. He had no sword. He didn't even have a shirt. There was also what looked like a small village up ahead, and dragons rarely wandered so close to people.
He hated feeling vulnerable; he needed to get back to the Vione. There was work to be done. There was Van to neutralize. His slayers: where were they, and how could they have been so careless as to let this happen? The comforting feeling of rage was already beginning to take over. Perhaps they were nearby, but that was unlikely. They would know better than to leave him in the wilderness unattended, and unarmed, and in this condition. Then to whoever was responsible: there would be hell to pay.
He stood with the full intent of marching toward that village and demanding to be escorted back to Zaibach immediately. It was then that he noticed the dull pain coming from his back. Had he fallen? Something was not right. There was a fluttering.
He twisted and felt along his back with his hands, the best he could, horrified to find a pair of wings, like a Draconian. He actually gagged. What in the hell had happened to him? Sorcerers? He could feel his head going light.
Quickly, he forced himself to steady, the part of him that was a soldier already struggling to push everything towards the back of his mind and focus on the priorities. He couldn't afford to think about it yet, not until he was safe and back at the Vione. He ignored the haunting feeling that something horrible had happened and instead let the fury inside him grow while he looked at the rustic cluster of homes with undisguised disgust. Nothing mattered. He was still Dilandau Albatou, Zaibach's youngest military captain of an elite team of soldiers. Nothing could change that, and he planned to make sure that every denizen of that damnable little village knew exactly who they were dealing with.
Threadhopping with this character?: Sure. I don't mind.
Backtagging with this character?: Of course.
Hugging this character?: It's fine. You might get yelled at, though, and why the hell would you want to?
Giving this character a kiss?: Sure, but he'll probably kick you. :|
(Something more intimate?): Don't ruin my childhood. x_x
(Relationships?): Um. Not really his or my thing. Maybe if your character is extremely, extremely patient?
Punching this character (provided they can fight back): By all means. It's expected.
(Injury?): Just ask first. Again, it's kind of expected.
(Death?): Again, ask, and we'll see.
Is there anything you do not want mentioned near this character?: Nope. He's got a lot of touchy subjects, but that's just all the more fun for me.
Is there anything you need us to know about interacting with this character?: He is not nice. Your character will probably get yelled at. Be prepared for rage.
Anything else, please mention here: He's actually kind of naive. Not in the traditional sense, but in the sense that he thinks everything has to work out for him just because of who he is. It's not fun when he figures out that things don't work that way. Also, if you're patient and nice to him, he'll be extremely protective of you in return. ♥