Venom

Everyone in the town fights their fight, which keeps the town running. Protecting that environment is all I can do. It's my purpose. And who's better for the job than a humble baker?
― Venom to Ramlethal Valentine

Venom is a recurring character in the Guilty Gear series. A young man taken in by the Assassin's Guild, he has sworn undying loyalty to the one who saved him, Zato-ONE. Like many other characters in the series, Venom uses a very unusual weapon, a pool cue, and attacks with a number of billiard-based moves.

Design

Venom is a fit, dark-skinned man with long, white hair with a dark blue eye pattern on the bangs. He has a handsome face and blue eyes, but his long bangs tend to cover his features completely. He usually wears the guild's standard uniform outside of combat, but often wears the same belt and gloves for both occasions.

In X and Λ CORE, Venom's guild uniform is a white shirt with a black vest and blue tie, white pants, and black-and-white gloves. However, in his X arcade story ending, he wears a white suit with a blue shirt and yellow tie.

In Xrd, his guild uniform consists of a white, half-buttoned dress shirt with a long hem in the front, a black cropped suit jacket with gold cow skull-shaped cufflinks and buttons; black pants with gold buttons along the sides and white slits on the thighs, and a chunky black belt with gold clasps and rings.

In combat, he sports an open white bolero with puffy shoulder pads that only covers part of his back, leaving his upper body mostly exposed. He wears black leggings with half a pair of white pants layered over them. He also wears matching black gloves and dress shoes, and his whole attire is decorated with black straps on the arms, legs and waist. In Xrd, the words "Settle with Elegance" are written across the front of his pants, gloves, and on the straps hanging off the sides of his belt. The words "British Elegance" are written across the buckles of his bolero and on his shoes. He also sports the guild's logo on multiple parts of his outfit, with the word "Dandyism" written underneath it on one of his sleeves.

At the end of After Story B, Venom dons a classic baker's outfit: he has a white chef's coat, black pants, a black waist apron with matching neckerchief, and a tall white chef's hat. His hair is pulled back into a ponytail, allowing his entire face to become visible.

In Strive, Venom's outfit is notably changed, now sporting a white cropped suit jacket, with inner black lining and black straps on the cuffs, and a half-buttoned “deep purple” dress shirt. He still wears layered pants, with the first layer being black and slim-fitting, with three black buttons on the side that each have the number 8 and "Manners Maketh Man" written on them. The second layer is a half a pair of white, baggy palazzo pants with a high waist. His belt is smaller, but keeps the interlocking gold clasps from his previous designs. Below this belt, he has a second maroon one held together by a silver heart-shaped accessory that reads "Thou must play with..." The belt's text, “Discipline”, “Aggression” and “Patience” finishes the sentence on the accessory and wraps around his hips. Venom now wears a single black-and-white glove on his bridge hand, in professional Pool-player fashion. Both the bottoms of his shoes and the back of his belt have "British Elegance" written on them.

Personality

Though he was an assassin by trade, Venom is a gentle and honest man who can barely bring himself to lie. He speaks with rigidity and seems to favor logic and reason above all, but he places high importance on empathy, emotion, and his own humility. However, if one was to openly declare themselves as an enemy of Zato, it would ignite a rage within Venom that could not be easily extinguished.

Venom has a calm and unobtrusive personality— unless he perceived Zato to be in any sort of danger— as well as a literary mind. Having grown up in an impersonal environment from an early age, he didn't have a particular sense of purpose in his life other than serving Zato and, by extension, the guild. As of -Strive- however, after having left the assassin life behind, he seems to have found a purpose for himself acting as a peacekeeper for the town he protects, as well as running his bakery.

Though Venom hates murder intuitively, he is a diligent person who would complete his assigned task regardless of his own desires. If not on a mission, he seems to prefer to intimidate his opponents via words rather than force a confrontation.

He often bickers with Robo-Ky, either by attempting to silence him or exasperatedly warning him to not do anything rash or rude, but seems to have come to appreciate the robot as a friend.

Story

Background

Orphaned at a young age, Venom (real name unknown) was taken in and trained by the Assassin's Guild. However, Venom's sensibilities hindered his talent as an assassin, and he began to ponder his own value as time passed. The organization was to dispose of him as useless, but at that time, Zato-1 appeared as the new leader of the guild in front of Venom. Zato, who saw him and his talent as a necessity to the guild, reached out as a benefactor. Valued for his existence, Venom was deeply indebted to Zato, and pledged his allegiance to him.

As seen in Night of Knives, Venom knew of Zato and Millia Rage's relationship, and so Venom treated her coldly, but accepted it. When the guild was hired to assassinate Duke Dorian Scaburi of the Calroni Kingdom, Venom assisted Zato during the operation. Although the two distracted the castle guards and Venom fought Godfried evenly, Millia was captured by Leon Mining due to Slayer's meddling. In order to rescue her, Zato agreed to assassinate King Salteria I for Mining, only to find out that Slayer had already released Millia. Bound by their code, they carried on with the request. Venom fought and finally defeated Godfried, but Millia betrayed Zato and left him for dead to save the baby king. Millia revealed this to Venom as she fled. They fiercely fought each other until they realized that Zato was still alive but in danger.

Venom and Millia then rescued Zato and Slayer from Mining's "Arm" monster. Zato forgave Millia for her betrayal, but her unhappiness with the guild persisted and led to her fleeing during another major operation led by Zato. Her escape threw the assassin into chaos, allowing them to be caught red-handed, and Zato was arrested and imprisoned. During the Second Holy Order Selection Tournament, Zato was supposedly freed by Testament yet he had failed to return to the guild.

Guilty Gear X

Having received information about a possible Zato sighting, Venom departs to investigate. In Guilty Gear X Plus, he finds Zato, but Eddie the Forbidden Beast has almost taken complete control of Zato. In one ending, Venom defeats Eddie, but Zato seems to be inert, if not catatonic. In the other ending, Venom feigns defeat to lure Eddie into his own body, whereupon he reveals his trickery to Eddie and indicates that he will sacrifice himself to kill Eddie and save Zato.

Guilty Gear XX

With Zato's disappearance, Venom becomes the guild's top-ranking official.His Story Mode begins with Slayer's dissolution of the guild. Angry at the perceived disrespect for Zato's (albeit absent) authority as leader of the Guild, Venom trains to challenge Slayer, defending all that is left of Zato.

In his first ending, Venom defeats Slayer but, as Slayer wryly points out, Venom is still not strong enough to destroy him; Venom then locks Slayer in an iron coffin. In his other path, Venom is distracted by a chance encounter with Eddie and chases after him. In one ending, Venom defeats Eddie but he collapses and dies soon afterwards. In his third ending, when Venom finds Eddie, Millia has already won and killed Zato as well; enraged, Venom kills Millia, then pledges his loyalty and life to Zato's soul.

Guilty Gear XX Λ Core Plus

Venom has succeeded in reviving the guild from near extinction, but it brought no satisfaction, as Millia is still out there: Must he finish her off himself in order to find peace? In one ending, he spares Millia after deciding her death would accomplish nothing, and turns his attention to the Post-War Administration Bureau. In the other, Venom kills Millia and, still feeling empty and unhappy, disbands the Guild to become a traveling pool player; he meets an orphan named Eddie, whom Venom adopts.

Guilty Gear Xrd

In 2187, Venom remains the Guild's leader. One day, the guild is hired by the Conclave, who tell him that Zato-1 has been resurrected, to guard the Opera House. Suspicious of their claim, Venom asks Millia—with whom he has made peace—to investigate, while he fulfills the contract. As it turns out, the Opera House is where Zato's dimensional prison is.

Venom and Millia are soon found by Zato, who has freed himself. While Zato tries to locate the Conclave, he asks Venom to protect Millia and leaves. Slayer soon joins them as well. The three agree that they have an obligation to deliver the information they possess to the appropiate party. After discarding the P.W.A.B. as a possibility, Venom suggests King Ky Kiske of Illyria. However, they are taken by surprised by Bedman's attack, knocking Venom and Millia out and weakening Slayer. He teleports himself and the three assassins to Uighur in order to kill Faust. They are saved by Zato's intervention. Bedman disappears, and Venom suspects that Bedman is working for a unknown party. Zato then departs to tell Ky what they know.

After their humiliating defeat at the hands of Bedman, Venom convenes with the others at Slayer's Mansion to rebuild the guild. Venom admits to being rather glad they were defeated, as it has let him realize what it means to "protect the organization". Venom shows the strength of his resolve to Millia (with Venom asking her to look after Zato) and Slayer. Venom wants to expose the Guild's deeds to the world and show the organization's role in affairs, and thus save its "soul".

Venom, Millia and Slayer meet with Zato after his conversation with King Daryl. He confirms that the assassins can now enlist as Illyrian soldiers, but while the others contemplate a celebration, Venom politely declines and departs to complete preparations. He travels to a small village and finds Robo-Ky. He hires the robot to aid him in defeating Bedman. As they head towards their destination, Robo-Ky talkes about making a tangerine orchard as he discusses the value in never disrespecting dreams as it equates to "laughing at the person themselves". The pair discuss the concepts of fate, and Venom apologizes for dragging the robot into the darkness while asking him if he resented his current situation, but Robo-Ky tells Venom not to worry as he stated he was never truly lonely, and that he should be focusing on the mission at hand.

During Ariels' attack against the Illyrian capital, Venom and Robo-Ky confront Bedman. The reason why Venom hired Robo-Ky soon becomes clear: Bedman cannot read Robo-Ky's mind. After a brief scuffle, Venom uses his Tera Machina System technique, proclaiming that in order for the Guild to be reborn in the light, he must sacrifice himself. Bedman scoffs at it despite being at a disadvantage, thinking that Venom is foolish for betting his own life. Before Venom can finish him off, two kids show up and Bedman turns his attention to them, causing Robo-Ky to step in. He rejects Bedman's worldview and self-destructs to separate him from his bed, and Venom executes the spell, managing to fatally wound Bedman. Venom collapses from the strain, and Robo Ky's head—with his propeller—carries Venom to a safe location.

Venom in After Story B.

In "After Story B", Venom has indeed survived and is in an alleyway as a street vendor, trying to earn money to pay for Robo-Ky's new body. Officially declared dead, Venom's survival puts the guild's new path in jeopardy. As they talk, they get customers—assassins led by 2cave. He requests a shoe shine from Venom, and gives him the choice to either protect the town or return to the "wolves", or else they will kill an innocent bystander. Venom chooses to protect the town, and so 2cave gives Venom a deed to a shop in the main shopping district. They had been sent by Zato to test Venom's resolve, hoping that Venom can live as humans do. Robo-Ky, who had been silent throughout the conversation, affirmed to Venom that 2cave and co. had high-rate heartbeats out of fear (which implied Venom could've dispatched with complete ease despite the initial situation).

Venom and Robo-Ky end up opening a bakery. While the former assassin is initially anxious as all he did to disguise himself was raise his bangs, he has yet to be discovered.

Guilty Gear -Strive-

By the events of -Strive-, Venom's bakery has become incredibly successful and popular. He's donned the title of "Phantom" after dark (in reference to him believing to be "dead", and anyone who may recognize him is simply seeing "phantoms") and strives to keep the peace in the town he swore to protect in Xrd. Outside of work, he claims that "Venom" doesn't exist, and his former colleagues play along with the act, choosing to treat him as a stranger instead of a subordinate. He's joined by Robo-Ky in his fights, who boisterously hypes up his "heroic" persona, much to his chagrin. The two have become good friends, and Robo-Ky will attempt to cover for Venom should his "Phantom" persona slip.

Story Mode

In the main story epilogue, Venom and Robo-Ky are seen being visited by Millia and Zato at their bakery.

Arcade Mode

Venom's Arcade Mode starts with him being stopped by Leo Whitefang, who is under the assumption that "Venom" is supposed to be dead, and is also pursuing a rumor that may be linked to Venom's interference.

After fighting, Leo asks Venom what his plans are with the town. He feigns confusion, and swears that what Leo believes is completely unrelated to him. Leo still insists on keeping an eye on him, and sends Ramlethal Valentine to follow him closely. The path diverges from here, depending on the player's actions.

In one path, Leo notes that Venom has lost the resolve to take another's life. Venom responds by insisting that his "past self" as an assassin has died, and what remains is a "corpse" living a new life with a new resolve to keep the peace in the town he's sworn to protect. In the time since being separated from the Guild, he claims to have found a new reason to fight, one that does not involve bloodshed or oppression and is one that he "cannot win", but finds it just as difficult to stay true to his path, as it's not what he's used to. Leo finds his spirit noble and just, agreeing that no assassin would ever find himself up for such a task.

Later, Ramlethal appears before him, wanting to ask questions. She notes that he shows no hostility nor antagonism in the way he fights, and asks why fight at all. Venom answers by saying that with new experiences and by beginning this new life, he has learned the importance of fighting without life and death at stake, and now only fights for peace. He aspires to create and nurture a safe environment where the townspeople can live out their dreams and protect what they hold dearest to them, free from all threats and the fear of never living to see tomorrow. Ramlethal agrees that in other words, peace is what allows her to enjoy hamburgers. Venom then hopes that everyone can find such peace, and the Arcade Mode ends.

In another path, Ramlethal stops Venom, demanding to know if he knows anything about a local criminal organization whose operations were recently exposed, as her and Leo were investigating at the same time. Venom claims to not know what she's talking about. Neither Ramlethal nor Leo believe him, feeling it's all too coincidental that he'd be found in the same town where it happened. Venom still continues to state that he's unfamiliar with the situation, but says that he might have noticed an increase in suspicious activity in the town, and sent the individuals responsible a warning, but nothing more. Leo plays along, taking a guess that maybe Venom was the one working in the shadows to weaken the organization, and after foiling their plans, left them "sitting around" and waiting to be arrested. Venom does not confirm or deny his involvement, but warns Leo to be on his guard nevertheless. Leo simply tells him to focus on his bakery and leave the work to the experts, and Venom only says that he's merely bringing pests to light. Ramlethal finds him a hard worker, but asks that he at least makes sure he gets enough sleep every night.

In yet another path, Ramlethal states that she was assigned to observe this town, but all she found was warm smiles. She concludes that it was likely due to Venom's presence. Before he gets the chance to respond, Robo-Ky interrupts him, attempting to seduce the woman. Venom flatly requests that she ignores him. Ramlethal witnesses their bickering and observes that they seem close, to which both respond at the same time that it's just a mutual interest in each other and nothing more, and then resume arguing, now for copying the other.

She points out that Venom is no ordinary baker based on his combat skills, but Venom declares that there is no evil in this town, and his only role in it is to break up fights and sort the garbage. Intrigued, Ramlethal asks to test him further. Afterward, she states that the range he chooses to protect is narrow, and Venom agrees that he only chooses to protect that which is only within his reach. He believes that his primary role is to protect the town and let the townspeople fight their own fights pertaining to daily life, but with a power like Ramlethal's, he notes that she's capable of protecting much more than he can, and she was given her role to exert said power. She says that with their powers combined, they can catch most of what falls through the cracks, and that they are both uniquely fit to protect what's important to them.

Spin-off story

Guilty Gear Dust Strikers

After a fight with Millia, Eddie, and Slayer, Venom manages to obtain Zato-1's corpse. Thinking  Gig intends to intervene in his recovery of Zato's body, he kills the rampaging Gear. Some time later, Venom speaks tenderly to Zato's corpse, welcoming him back to the Assassin's Guild and promising to return him to life through the use of forbidden occult magic.

Guilty Gear Judgment

Venom travels to the island of Isene in search of Eddie, hoping to recover Zato-1's body. Arriving in Liberia, he's surprised to see the once-bustling town overrun with monsters. Venom discovers a secret passage within one of the village's houses and follows it through the Ashnay ruins and into Raymond's secret laboratory. Within the laboratory, Venom finds evidence of Raymond's experiments, but realizes Raymond himself has already fled and left behind a monster to protect the lab. After defeating Marehound, Venom finds a logbook left behind by Raymond detailing his experiments on the people of Isene and ambition to become a god. Disgusted, Venom travels to the Tower of Wind to confront the man.

Atop the Tower of Wind, Raymond greets Venom. Before Venom can fight him, Raymond sets a group of monsters on Venom and flees through the newly-open gate to the other world. After defeating Raymond's monsters, Venom follows him through the gate; though the world beyond is a grim place, Venom feels at home within it. There, Venom finds Raymond standing next to the sleeping form of Inus, the king of the other world. Raymond declares that his plans to become a god are nearly complete, but Inus awakens and, enraged, devours Raymond. The still-furious Inus attacks Venom, forcing Venom to kill Inus.

Venom prepares to leave the other world, but he's interrupted by Raymond's voice. As he watches, Inus's corpse transforms into a monstrous version of Raymond, and the man, now calling himself Judgment, explains that Venom killing Inus was part of his plan: he wanted to fuse with Inus to gain its godlike powers, but doing so while Inus was alive would result in his consciousness being absorbed by Inus's more powerful soul. By allowing himself to be devoured by Inus, then waiting until Inus was dead, he was able to fuse his consciousness with Inus's corpse and gain its powers without being overwhelmed. Hearing this, Venom calls Judgment a failure of a scientist and asks him whether he can really accept the sacrifice involved in this fusion. Judgment declares himself the new ruler of humanity and teleports Venom to the entrance of his base of operations, a castle within the other world, before challenging Venom to come find him.

Venom fights his way through the castle and into Judgment's throne room. Despite Judgment's new strength, he's unable to defeat Venom. Shocked, he asks how he could have failed, to which Venom points out the flaw in his plan: with Inus dead, the monster's body will begin to decay; Raymond's weaker soul doesn't have the strength to keep their shared body alive, meaning that his new, fused form will inevitably rot and weaken. Judgment refuses to believe he could have made a mistake, but his powers quickly go haywire as his body begins to fail.

With Judgment dead, Venom returns to the human world. There, he encounters Millia, who is also searching for Eddie, and the two have a civil but tense conversation about their respective relationships to Zato. Millia tells Venom that he ought to seek his own freedom, but he affirms to her that his place is with Zato.

Abilities

Main article: /Commands

Venom is a skilled assassin, being one of the core members of the Assassin's Guild, and having abilities which Slayer always had a high opinion of. His fighting style is unique, being adept at using objects not normally treated as weapons and can adapt easily to any situation in order to fulfill his mission. Although his hand-to-hand skill is less than average, his skill as a killer is second to none. His weapon of choice is a pool cue, which he expertly wield as a polearm to attack in melee combat. Regarding magic, Venom is able to create and solidify billiard balls, and can control their position and enhance their size and power. He can also move at blinding speeds and can use his billiard balls as an axis point to perform teleportation.

During his and Robo-Ky's final battle against Bedman, he used his greatest technique known as Tera Machina System (テラマキナシステム?), a variant to Giga Machina System and a last-resort spell that requires Venom to pool all of his energy to materialize millions of billiards over a large radius and have them convene to form a giant cue. The opponent is locked onto and encompassed by an orb of energy, effectively becoming the "ball". The sphere itself is harmless, but it allows the cue to track and hit its target, whether they use teleportation or cross into other dimensions to escape. Unfortunately, usage of this technique is potentially fatal and can lead to Venom's death.

Venom also has the somewhat absurd ability to turn himself into a Rocket, and launch headlong into his opponent, though this ability only made a short, hidden appearance in Guilty Gear X Advance Edition’s ‘GG Mode’, after having first been scrapped from Guilty Gear X.

Music

• A Solitude That Asks Nothing In Return - Guilty Gear X  
  Guilty Gear XX  
• Keeper of the Unknown - Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload Korean OST  
• The Irony Of Chaste - Guilty Gear Isuka  
• Call Shot - Guilty Gear Xrd  
• A Tenth of Myself - Guilty Gear -Strive-

Rivalry themes

• Existence (vs. Eddie, Millia & Slayer) - Guilty Gear XX  
• Rogue Hunters (vs. Eddie, Millia & Slayer) - Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload Korean OST  
• When Life Comes (vs. Zato-1, Millia & Slayer) - Guilty Gear Xrd  

Quotes

Main article: /Quotes

Trivia

• Venom's homosexuality, and his feelings for Zato, has been hinted at throughout the series several times, such as Venom yelling Zato's name during Elphelt's Magnum Wedding (in her win quote, she is surprised at Venom not wanting a wife) or Johnny stealing from him a letter addressed to "Dear Z".
• The inspiration for Venom's character came from a game of pool Daisuke Ishiwatari played with friends, during which he became interested in the idea of a pool cue as a weapon.
• Throughout the series, Venom's Instant Kills have him transforming his opponent into a pool ball. Every character has their own unique pool ball design.
• Venom's winpose where he twirls his cue is able to interact with any pool balls that have been setup nearby, much like all of his other cue-based moves.
• At some point, Venom tried using yo-yos as weapons similar to Bridget.
• His first Instant Kill was localized in most of its appearances as "Dim Bomber" until it was finally corrected to Dimmu Borgir in Λ Core Plus R. Dimmu Borgir is the name of a Norwegian symphonic black metal band.
• Venom has made a guest appearance in the game Code Shifter.
• Venom's addition to Guilty Gear -Strive- as a DLC character was planned for “early 2025”, but was delayed to late March in order to "provide the best game experience possible." The delay was announced alongside plans to improve network functionality and new features to Training Mode.
• Venom's -Strive- win outro animation has a variant where he produces a muffin instead of a pool ball, which Robo-Ky quickly snatches from him and hides it behind his back.

Gallery

Main article: /Gallery

External links

• ギルティギア　イグゼクス　アクセントコア【キャラクター】｜ヴェノム
• ヴェノム | キャラクター | GUILTY GEAR Xrd REV 2 AC版公式サイト
• VENOM | CHARACTER | GUILTY GEAR -STRIVE- | ARC SYSTEM WORKS
• GGACR/ - GGXRD-R2/Venom at Dustloop Wiki