Secrets, Lies, and Love and Peace
Secrets, Lies, and Love and Peace
Nicholas D. Wolfwood
Author: Renet
Spoilers: Ambigously worded, moderate-level spoilers for the entire series and currently released manga.
Email: mistressrenet at yahoo dot com
Personal Website: Mistress Renet's House of Insanity
Notes: If you're looking for basic information about the anime or manga, you can find a short yaoi-friendly overview of Trigun here. I use 'we' a lot but I of course don't presume to speak for all Trigun fans: it just sounded better that way!
"It's about time I left the church anyway. I figured there was no hope 'til I made some money for them."
"Make money...as a priest?"
"That's not all, but...
...it's not exactly like that."
Meet Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a self-proclaimed priest with a hick accent (in the original Japanese, anyway), a bad attitude, and a cross-shaped gun the size of a small city.
Wolfwood's one more entry in the Bad Priests of Anime hall of fame, a chain-smoking, hard-drinking cynic who thinks nothing of killing for the greater good. He is uncompromising, grumpy, dark; to top it off, when we meet him, he's working for Vash's evil twin brother Knives to keep his beloved orphanage intact.
How did this character, a traitor, killer and sometime jerk, become one of Trigun's most popular and affecting characters?
Well, let's see:
The man loves kids!
Wolfwood and Vash make their first genuine connection when Wolfwood gives two of his last three coins (in the anime, they're meal bars) away to some begging children. Vash smiles, for real, and Wolfwood comments on it, and something very strong begins between them.
In a side story in the manga, "Freed Bird," Wolfwood fights to protect a girl he once babysat at the orphanage. Though he expresses mostly irritation at her, he is clearly very protective of her, and doesn't hesitate to defend her…though the defense is on his own terms.
For a very long time, everything Wolfwood does, in anime and manga is for the children at his orphanage: to give them a chance at the life he never had. Children are the only hope he can see on the dry, dusty, dog-eat-dog world of Gunsmoke; they are, in some sense, his chance for redemption after a near-lifetime of hunger, pain, and death.
Wolfwood's smart.
This isn't an obvious character trait, but it's an important one. In the manga, Wolfwood recognizes Vash almost immediately; almost no one else takes the time or attention to do so, or is smart enough to realize that Vash might be more than his goofy exterior.
He's very observant, and seems to be good at both planning ahead and re-adjusting his plans on the fly. In the manga, he uses an observation he made in Volume 5 to liberate Vash several volumes later; it's a gamble, but a calculated and ultimately successful one.
Wolfwood is immediately more understanding and perceptive of Vash than any other character in Trigun.. This also means that he carries a greater burden than the others; he is more aware of Vash's inhuman nature, and in the manga, he spends a good deal of time questioning his relationship to Vash and where his loyalties should lie. Wolfwood points a gun at Vash's head more than once, and it's important to remember his ambivalence is completely justified-- after all Vash is a dangerous man, responsible for a hole in the fifth moon and the destruction of an entire city. Wolfwood's smart enough to recognize that Vash can be a dangerous loose cannon-- but in the end, he's wise enough to realize that Vash is Gunsmoke's only hope.
Also, Wolfwood is sexy.
From an interview with Trigun anime director Satoshi Nishimura:
Nishimura: It was [writer Yousuke] Kuroda who said they were easy to move as characters. Compared to other characters, when Wolfwood appeared, the stories just rolled right along. For that reason, I think he's an extremely easy character to move. I had fun drawing him, too. And with his chest bared like that, he's pretty sexy. (laughs)
Interviewer: Sexy?
Nishimura: At the recording session, Nightow said, "Sexy--He's sexy," like he was excited. (laughs) Well, we didn't calculate it that far. Also, using Hayami (voice actor Shou Hayami)--up until then, it had been Milly, Meryl, and Vash going along together, and I had the idea of breaking up that dynamic a little. That's where we invited native Kansai-ite Hayami. In addition, there's the image of the kinds of roles he's played in the past. I wanted to use that, too, to break that image at the same time as he's thrown in with Vash and the others. Hayami was relatively important for arranging the characters. I wasn't expecting it to end up being sexy, though. (laughs)
--translated at Make a Little Light Bulb in Your Soul
Hayami Shou (also transliterated Sho) is a popular Japanese actor with a voice like warm buttered sex, and the Trigun anime enhanced things by showing Wolfwood's open shirt...open. A lot.
But even without the visual and aural goodies given to you by the anime, Wolfwood is pretty damn sexy, all dark blue eyes and scruffy hair and stubbly chin. (His Kansai accent is a bonus to Japanese-loving fans; Kansai dialect is quite musical, and contains lots of fun slang terms. It does make his dialogue harder to translate, however!)
His minister's duds are a bonus, as well. Doesn't everyone want the chance to corrupt a hot priest, even when he's already been pretty well corrupted? (Please note: Wolfwood is probably not a Catholic priest: the Japanese uses the word Bokushi to describe him, rather than the Shinpu reserved for Catholic priests. However, Trigun's world is so unlike our own, it's hard to say what, if any, theology Wolfwood might subscribe to.)
...and he's in love with Vash.
Whatever you call it-- brotherhood, romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, friendship-- it's impossible not to realize that the Vash/Wolfwood relationship is, at its core, about love.
Vash has very few friends, and almost no one who can understand both sides of his life-- the rough, painful world on the surface of Gunsmoke, and the 'home' he's found on the flying ship. While Wolfwood is all too familiar with the pain of life on Gunsmoke, he's sympathetic to Vash's guardianship of the flying ship-- the ship gives hope and a home to Vash, and the orphanage serves the same purpose for Wolfwood (in fact, Wolfwood fights like hell to save the flying ship in both manga and anime, and Vash has an opportunity to return the favor for the orphanage in the manga).
They have an intuitive understanding of each other, fight together like they've been doing it all their lives, and squabble like a pair of old marrieds.
Their worldviews are very, very different, but they manage, for the most part, to compromise. In the anime, Wolfwood comes to adopt Vash's non-killing philosophy completely; in the manga, he doesn't, but they learn to accept one another.
Vash: Thank you.
Wolfwood: I killed. I murdered. I'm nothing like these sleepy people
here. Nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? Bastard....
Vash: I'm saying thank you. Because you spilled blood, you saved all of
these people's lives. I couldn't have done it without you. I've
burdened
you with my own feelings. I'm sorry.
--Trigun Maximum V. 3, Dark Horse translation
...but none of those are the real reason we love Wolfwood.
We identify with Wolfwood because he's broken and injured and still fighting like hell, because he's been through hell and has no reason to hope or care anymore-- but he still does. He holds on to the hope Vash embodies like a drowning man gasping for air; he fights for his children, his orphanage, without a moment's doubt or hesitation.
We love him for his intelligence and his attitude and his good looks, but most of all we love Wolfwood because he has the strength we hope we have and that we're afraid we don't; to stand tall in a firefight, to stand up to Knives, to risk everything, everything, for the people we love and for the planet we belong to.
We love Wolfwood because the easy thing to do would've been to keep his head down and take orders, and because he refuses, over and over again, to do anything easy.
He is a reluctant hero, and that makes his heroism all the more affecting. He is strong, and brave, and beautiful, and he fights for love and peace.
After all that, how can we not love him?
Shrines:
Trigun: Wolfwood has wallpapers, avatars, essays and lots more.
Cinders and Smoke features more essays, and a lovely gallery.
The Hastily Assembled Nicholas D. Wolfwood Shrine is connected to Make a Little Light Bulb in Your Soul, an exhaustive Trigun resource everyone should visit.
You can also find my Ship_manifesto on the relationship between Vash and Wolfwood here.
Fics:
Some slash, some het, some gen, all worth reading.
If I should die before tomorrow morning has major anime spoilers. Heartbreaking.
Chess is brief but perceptive; anime-based and spoilery.
Snow In December is a manga-based AU with some manga spoilers, and is-- among other things-- an interesting look at Vash from Wolfwood's perspective, that tells us as much about the man observing as the man being observed.
Enough to Make a Preacher Swear is a much smuttier look at Vash from Wolfwood's perspective.
Playing the Odds Wolfwood on the bus; anime-based.
Five Things that Never Happened to Nicholas D. Wolfwood. A very insightful genfic.
Vids:
Alas, there aren't enough good Wolfwood vids, as the man is criminally underused in the anime...all with massive anime spoilers. There are quite a few good ones though.
For Love and Peace
Tourniquet
Hallelujah
Tribute to Wolfwood
The Wolf Who Shot Liberty Vash
Nicholas D. Wolfwood
Author: Renet
Spoilers: Ambigously worded, moderate-level spoilers for the entire series and currently released manga.
Email: mistressrenet at yahoo dot com
Personal Website: Mistress Renet's House of Insanity
Notes: If you're looking for basic information about the anime or manga, you can find a short yaoi-friendly overview of Trigun here. I use 'we' a lot but I of course don't presume to speak for all Trigun fans: it just sounded better that way!
"It's about time I left the church anyway. I figured there was no hope 'til I made some money for them."
"Make money...as a priest?"
"That's not all, but...
...it's not exactly like that."
Meet Nicholas D. Wolfwood, a self-proclaimed priest with a hick accent (in the original Japanese, anyway), a bad attitude, and a cross-shaped gun the size of a small city.
Wolfwood's one more entry in the Bad Priests of Anime hall of fame, a chain-smoking, hard-drinking cynic who thinks nothing of killing for the greater good. He is uncompromising, grumpy, dark; to top it off, when we meet him, he's working for Vash's evil twin brother Knives to keep his beloved orphanage intact.
How did this character, a traitor, killer and sometime jerk, become one of Trigun's most popular and affecting characters?
Well, let's see:
The man loves kids!
Wolfwood and Vash make their first genuine connection when Wolfwood gives two of his last three coins (in the anime, they're meal bars) away to some begging children. Vash smiles, for real, and Wolfwood comments on it, and something very strong begins between them.
In a side story in the manga, "Freed Bird," Wolfwood fights to protect a girl he once babysat at the orphanage. Though he expresses mostly irritation at her, he is clearly very protective of her, and doesn't hesitate to defend her…though the defense is on his own terms.
For a very long time, everything Wolfwood does, in anime and manga is for the children at his orphanage: to give them a chance at the life he never had. Children are the only hope he can see on the dry, dusty, dog-eat-dog world of Gunsmoke; they are, in some sense, his chance for redemption after a near-lifetime of hunger, pain, and death.
Wolfwood's smart.
This isn't an obvious character trait, but it's an important one. In the manga, Wolfwood recognizes Vash almost immediately; almost no one else takes the time or attention to do so, or is smart enough to realize that Vash might be more than his goofy exterior.
He's very observant, and seems to be good at both planning ahead and re-adjusting his plans on the fly. In the manga, he uses an observation he made in Volume 5 to liberate Vash several volumes later; it's a gamble, but a calculated and ultimately successful one.
Wolfwood is immediately more understanding and perceptive of Vash than any other character in Trigun.. This also means that he carries a greater burden than the others; he is more aware of Vash's inhuman nature, and in the manga, he spends a good deal of time questioning his relationship to Vash and where his loyalties should lie. Wolfwood points a gun at Vash's head more than once, and it's important to remember his ambivalence is completely justified-- after all Vash is a dangerous man, responsible for a hole in the fifth moon and the destruction of an entire city. Wolfwood's smart enough to recognize that Vash can be a dangerous loose cannon-- but in the end, he's wise enough to realize that Vash is Gunsmoke's only hope.
Also, Wolfwood is sexy.
From an interview with Trigun anime director Satoshi Nishimura:
Nishimura: It was [writer Yousuke] Kuroda who said they were easy to move as characters. Compared to other characters, when Wolfwood appeared, the stories just rolled right along. For that reason, I think he's an extremely easy character to move. I had fun drawing him, too. And with his chest bared like that, he's pretty sexy. (laughs)
Interviewer: Sexy?
Nishimura: At the recording session, Nightow said, "Sexy--He's sexy," like he was excited. (laughs) Well, we didn't calculate it that far. Also, using Hayami (voice actor Shou Hayami)--up until then, it had been Milly, Meryl, and Vash going along together, and I had the idea of breaking up that dynamic a little. That's where we invited native Kansai-ite Hayami. In addition, there's the image of the kinds of roles he's played in the past. I wanted to use that, too, to break that image at the same time as he's thrown in with Vash and the others. Hayami was relatively important for arranging the characters. I wasn't expecting it to end up being sexy, though. (laughs)
--translated at Make a Little Light Bulb in Your Soul
Hayami Shou (also transliterated Sho) is a popular Japanese actor with a voice like warm buttered sex, and the Trigun anime enhanced things by showing Wolfwood's open shirt...open. A lot.
But even without the visual and aural goodies given to you by the anime, Wolfwood is pretty damn sexy, all dark blue eyes and scruffy hair and stubbly chin. (His Kansai accent is a bonus to Japanese-loving fans; Kansai dialect is quite musical, and contains lots of fun slang terms. It does make his dialogue harder to translate, however!)
His minister's duds are a bonus, as well. Doesn't everyone want the chance to corrupt a hot priest, even when he's already been pretty well corrupted? (Please note: Wolfwood is probably not a Catholic priest: the Japanese uses the word Bokushi to describe him, rather than the Shinpu reserved for Catholic priests. However, Trigun's world is so unlike our own, it's hard to say what, if any, theology Wolfwood might subscribe to.)
...and he's in love with Vash.
Whatever you call it-- brotherhood, romance, Unresolved Sexual Tension, friendship-- it's impossible not to realize that the Vash/Wolfwood relationship is, at its core, about love.
Vash has very few friends, and almost no one who can understand both sides of his life-- the rough, painful world on the surface of Gunsmoke, and the 'home' he's found on the flying ship. While Wolfwood is all too familiar with the pain of life on Gunsmoke, he's sympathetic to Vash's guardianship of the flying ship-- the ship gives hope and a home to Vash, and the orphanage serves the same purpose for Wolfwood (in fact, Wolfwood fights like hell to save the flying ship in both manga and anime, and Vash has an opportunity to return the favor for the orphanage in the manga).
They have an intuitive understanding of each other, fight together like they've been doing it all their lives, and squabble like a pair of old marrieds.
Their worldviews are very, very different, but they manage, for the most part, to compromise. In the anime, Wolfwood comes to adopt Vash's non-killing philosophy completely; in the manga, he doesn't, but they learn to accept one another.
Vash: Thank you.
Wolfwood: I killed. I murdered. I'm nothing like these sleepy people
here. Nevertheless, you can actually be grateful? Bastard....
Vash: I'm saying thank you. Because you spilled blood, you saved all of
these people's lives. I couldn't have done it without you. I've
burdened
you with my own feelings. I'm sorry.
--Trigun Maximum V. 3, Dark Horse translation
...but none of those are the real reason we love Wolfwood.
We identify with Wolfwood because he's broken and injured and still fighting like hell, because he's been through hell and has no reason to hope or care anymore-- but he still does. He holds on to the hope Vash embodies like a drowning man gasping for air; he fights for his children, his orphanage, without a moment's doubt or hesitation.
We love him for his intelligence and his attitude and his good looks, but most of all we love Wolfwood because he has the strength we hope we have and that we're afraid we don't; to stand tall in a firefight, to stand up to Knives, to risk everything, everything, for the people we love and for the planet we belong to.
We love Wolfwood because the easy thing to do would've been to keep his head down and take orders, and because he refuses, over and over again, to do anything easy.
He is a reluctant hero, and that makes his heroism all the more affecting. He is strong, and brave, and beautiful, and he fights for love and peace.
After all that, how can we not love him?
Shrines:
Trigun: Wolfwood has wallpapers, avatars, essays and lots more.
Cinders and Smoke features more essays, and a lovely gallery.
The Hastily Assembled Nicholas D. Wolfwood Shrine is connected to Make a Little Light Bulb in Your Soul, an exhaustive Trigun resource everyone should visit.
You can also find my Ship_manifesto on the relationship between Vash and Wolfwood here.
Fics:
Some slash, some het, some gen, all worth reading.
If I should die before tomorrow morning has major anime spoilers. Heartbreaking.
Chess is brief but perceptive; anime-based and spoilery.
Snow In December is a manga-based AU with some manga spoilers, and is-- among other things-- an interesting look at Vash from Wolfwood's perspective, that tells us as much about the man observing as the man being observed.
Enough to Make a Preacher Swear is a much smuttier look at Vash from Wolfwood's perspective.
Playing the Odds Wolfwood on the bus; anime-based.
Five Things that Never Happened to Nicholas D. Wolfwood. A very insightful genfic.
Vids:
Alas, there aren't enough good Wolfwood vids, as the man is criminally underused in the anime...all with massive anime spoilers. There are quite a few good ones though.
For Love and Peace
Tourniquet
Hallelujah
Tribute to Wolfwood
The Wolf Who Shot Liberty Vash