Valentine
Valentine is a character in the Guilty Gear series that appears in Guilty Gear 2 -Overture-. A living copy of Aria Hale, Valentine has a personality of stone, speaking only when she explains her motives.
Design
Her style of dress is something similar to a Gothic type of style. She also wears headgear that resembles a pair of bat's wings. She also has two white antennae sprouting from the sides of her head. Her physical appearence is mostly identical to Aria Hale.
Personality
She corresponds to matters in a mechanical way, showing no signs of emotion or desire. Since there are no intonations in her behavior or in her speech, she is intimidating because it seems like a doll talking.[1] She often mentions that she is "running errands for mother". However, when Sol and company pursue Valentine to the Backyard, she starts to become irritated of them, developing her first emotions in the process: frustration and rage.
Story
Background
Valentine is created by the Universal Will to carry out the entity’s errands in arranging the extermination of humanity.
Guilty Gear 2 -Overture-
She later leads her Vizuel army to attack the city against Ky Kiske's army. Her goal is to obtain the "Key", which are the Maiden of the Grove's cells, to open the Cube. Her assault caused a lot of casualties, but still she failed to find the Key she was searching for. However, when Sol and Sin return to Illyria to help the king, her backup plan is revealed: to take Sin's cells instead, as he is the offspring of Ky Kiske and the Maiden of the Grove. She succeeds in obtaining the Key and brainwashes Sin.
She used her Vizuel army to guard her while she was opening the portal to the Backyard, but Ky and his army arrived to defeat it. Sol and his company then pursued Valentine to the Backyard. When she realized that all her plans failed, she became frustrated and finally developed emotions. This sudden flow of emotions drove her into an extremely violent state, turning her into a dark copy of Justice. After being defeated in her Gear form, she transformed in a gigantic fortress-like Megadeath Class Gear and the final battle started. When fighting Sol, memories of Aria manifested themselves as voices around her. She was eventually defeated by Sol, and remembered his real name, Frederick, and told him "it's okay", before fading away.
In the epilogue, That Man says to Raven that the next Universal Will attack will be more difficult to handle, Raven agrees, expecting that it would be much harder to find the other Valentine, to which That Man replies that it could be the other way around - tens of thousands Valentines will appear, making it arduous to deflect them.
Abilities
Valentine is similar to A.B.A in which they both wield unconventional weapons. Valentine fights using a balloon that she calls Lucifero. The balloon appears to have magic powers, such as shapeshifting into a mace-like weapon for melee or firing projectiles in form of missiles and energy bursts. She also has access to the Soul Sinker system, which allows her to generate her own Master Ghost(soul) into physical reality as well as create her Servants, the Vizuel. It is commented that her magical energy is incredibly high and she can use spells that are outside the realm of conventional knowledge, to the point where Sol and Sin cannot dispel her seals or barriers and could not harm her with magical attacks until Izuna modified their abilities. She can also brainwash her enemies with a form of Mind Control similar to Justice's, using said ability on Izuna's Youkai companions as well as Sin. She can sublimate(dissemble) Gears by accessing the Backyard and dismantling their core data. When she succumbs to her anger, she will transform into a large mecha-like being similar in appearance and abilities to Justice. She can also transform even further, becoming an techno-organic, multi-limbed "airship" that increases her offensive abilities.
Music
- The Mask Does Not Laugh - Guilty Gear 2
- Dignity - Guilty Gear 2 (boss)
- Diva - Guilty Gear 2 (final boss)
Quotes
Allusions
- Her name possibly alludes to the bands Bullet for My Valentine or My Bloody Valentine.
- The text 'Nonsugar' present throughout her design and those of some members of her tribe could reference the album No Sugar Added by Dutch musician Robby Valentine.
Trivia
- Valentine is the only character who has three musical themes of her own in a single release.
- In the BlazBlue series, the female lead, Noel Vermillion, is pursed by Litchi Faye-Ling, who forces her to don bizarre outfits upon catching up to her. The last outfit she forces her into is Valentine's.
- In the game, if Valentine is left idle, she and Lucifero will chat.
- Her design was intially based on school uniform.[1], with her appearance in the final game being inspired by undead characters from real-time strategy games as well as gothic lolita fashion.[2]
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'Valentine' section of the Guilty Gear 2 -Overture- Material Collection
- ↑ Guilty Gear 10th Memorial Book, pg. 136