D-Reaper

"The D-Reaper has already won, foolish Digimon. The being called Jeri has taught the D-Reaper everything it needs to know about humans. Nothing they have can beat the D-Reaper. Nothing."

- The D-Reaper answering Calumon

The D-Reaper is the true antagonist in Digimon Tamers. It is a very powerful digital life-form that absorbs data from anything it touches, including the Real World (slower than in the Digital World, where it's far quicker). It can also absorb negative energy produced from humans.

The D-Reaper was first fought in the Digital World by the Tamers, who actually managed to halt his actions for a short time. However, once the children returned to their world, the Reaper followed them and started to consume the whole area of Shinjuku, Tokyo, beginning by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building area (headquarters of Mitsuo Yamaki's Hypnos project). It can't be harmed directly, as only a few objects and people can enter it's bubble shield (called D-Reaper Zone) and see what's inside. The other reason is because the Reaper also holds Jeri Kato (Takato Matsuda's friend) as it's prisoner and energy source. The D-Reaper was voiced by Yoko Asada in the Japanese version and Bridget Hoffman in the English version in the same fashion as Jeri herself, only deeper and computer-altered.

Character
The D-Reaper is cold and calculist, not caring about human or Digimon emotions or origins, as long as it provides development for its total mass. Even though it keeps Jeri prisoner, it shows no concern for her depression or loneliness, just technical curiosity. The Reaper also shows a slight curiosity on human emotions and feelings, as it constantly tries to analyse Jeri's emotions on Takato and sorrow on Leomon's death. It is also worth noticing that it never speaks of itself as "I" or "me", and constantly speaks in third person.

Despite all this D-Reaper is not inherently evil. It is merely fulfilling its original purpose of deleting anything more complex than the parameters for entities it was originally given.

Role in Digimon Tamers
The D-Reaper first appears after the final Deva Caturamon is defeated. It's first form is a huge mass of red bubbles that deletes everything it touches, including Digimon, which the Tamers are forced to avoid at first. The Sovereign Azulongmon explains that the "Chaos" was a terrible entity that attacked the Digital World before and destroyed many of it's Digi-gnomes (beings that can make wishes come true) and almost destroyed it if it wasn't for the Sovereigns' intervention. They explain that the being is actually surrounding the whole world, and is trying to gain access to other worlds so it can grow more. After Jeri loses Leomon and the Tamers assume their Bio-merged forms, they manage to fend off the Chaos and return home (but unbeknownst to them, Jeri was captured and replaced by a spy). While Takato fails to lift "Jeri"'s mood, the D-Reaper appears on Shinjuku, swallowing the Hypnos HQ and forcing Yamaki and his crew out of the building. As time goes by, the Tamers recover their full evolution and manage to battle the D-Reaper's forces, until the fake Jeri reveals herself as an agent and tries to kill Takato and Guilmon inside the D-Reaper's shield with no success. Some time later, the D-Reaper manages to create another agent, the ADR-09: Gatekeeper and completely engulf the Government Building. When the agent is defeated, it is fused together with Jeri's anguish and the Jeri Type agent to form the Mother D-Reaper, who hides itself underneath the shield. The Wild Bunch (the Digital World's creators) creates a Red Card that allows the Tamers to get inside and fight the D-Reaper and it's final creation, the Cable Reaper. After Gallantmon acquires his Crimson Mode, he manages to defeat the Reaper and the ADR-01, but the only way to defeat the program is to pull it back to the Digital World and reverse it back to a "mere desktop tool". Yamaki utilizes the technology to enhance MegaGargomon with his Juggernaut program and, with the help of the Sovereigns, they manage to pull and defeat the D-Reaper, reverting it back to a harmless form, imprisoning the evil life-form for good, as well as ending its reign of terror in the Real World.

Forms
The program has a huge variety of minions and forms born from the data it collects. It's agents (called ADRs, short for Agent of the D-Reaper) are mostly shaped Digimon-like, only connected to the "bubble" through a red cord that, if cut, weakens them greatly. The most important agents are the ADR-01: Jeri Type and ADR-09: Gatekeeper, both acting as the D-Reaper's main defense and offense. The most notable form is called the Mother D-Reaper, created from the data absorbed from Shinjuku's buildings and citizens, Digimons, and the ADRs 01 and 09. It evolved in a similar way to the Digimons (from the collected data) it consumed, however it didn't evolve into a creature, but to a superior form of it's own. The Mother form is a giant, tower-like structure made of many electrical and telephone wires and cords, with buildings emerging from it's interior (they disappear later in the series). It also wears a big mask with six eyes and a crown-like ornament on it's head, the most noticeable detail being an orb in the middle of it's face (where Jeri is kept).

Trivia

 * The D-Reaper holds the distinction of being the only enemy in the Digimon franchise who is not a Digimon, human, or related to the Digital World itself in any way aside from the data it absorbed and adapted to, being only a rogue computer program who found the Digital World and attacked it, simply trying to accomplish its original programming.
 * However, it is interesting to notice that despite just doing what it was programmed to do, several instances show that the D-Reaper has also developed a sadistic, psychopathic personality which sees delight in torturing the protagonists in many ways:
 * Utilizing Jeri Kato as a power source and analysis subject, isolating her from the rest of the world and her friends while making absolutely sure she would remain a hostage to her own depression.
 * Utilizing Jeri's image to build a spy agent and stalk her friends and family while analyzing their data in disturbing ways.
 * Using said agent to further traumatize Takato and Guilmon and hurt them psychologically despite there being no actual need for it outside of fueling their anger further.
 * Torturing Jeri physically at the first sign of overcoming depression.
 * Using Jeri's voice as its own.
 * Generating a philosophy that humans are unworthy of existence, taking glee in attacking the Tamers and their Digimon.
 * The head writer for Digimon Tamers is a horror writer Chiaki J. Konaka, a man famous for spanning several Japanese versions of Cthulthu Mythos. Konaka came to the idea to create an enemy that is neither Digimon nor human. As the season already followed the cyberpunk ideas and Konaka had an experience with computer themes in earlier animes, it was suitable to create a computer program as the main threat in the series. Moreover, D-Reaper follows a lot of attributes from Lovecraftian cosmic entities.
 * The D-Reaper shares many similarities to the aparoids from the Star Fox series, particularly their queen. Their voices are similar, they both assimilate life forms (though in a different manner), both are destroyed with a program to their main form (Aparoid Queen and Mother D-Reaper), both imitate characters they've absorbed or otherwise know about (Only Jeri in the case of the D-Reaper, but many characters in the case of the aparoid queen).
 * Also, the Cable Reaper (which gets pulled into the digital world by the Sovereign so that Yamaki could use Juggernaut on the D-Reaper) seems to resemble the aparoids that Wolf's team distracts so that Fox's team could get to the core and destroy the aparoid queen, whose face resembles that of Mother D-Reaper and whose wings resemble those of Evil Jeri.
 * There is also a point in which Beelzemon breaks through the D-Reaper's kernel sphere in which Jeri is trapped, but the hole closes up before Beelzemon can save her. This is interestingly similar to the point in Star Fox Assault when Fox shuts down the shield leading to the aparoid homeworld's core (where the aparoid queen was), and it regenerates. Both also nearly result in the death of an ally; Beelzemon is shot down by the D-Reaper afterward while Peppy is forced to crash the Great Fox into the shield to break it, although in both cases it's later revealed they survive.
 * It is also worth noting that both the D-Reaper and the aparoids overshadow a previous significant villain; The beginning of the aparoid attack marks the final end of Andross's army (unless Command is believed to be canon) when the aparoid moth shoots down its last member, Andrew Oikonny, while Zhuqiaomon is initially believed to be the antagonist until Azulongmon convinces him to not destroy the humans and to focus on the D-Reaper instead.
 * Of the four main non-human antagonists (Zhuqiaomon, Mephistomon, the D-Reaper, and Parasimon) the D-Reaper is the only one aside from Zhuqiaomon to not be killed by Guilmon.

As ADR-01: Jeri Type

 * α Houkai 


 * Mind Scan

As ADR-02: Searcher

 * Gokumon Chou no Haoto


 * Jamming Hertz

As ADR-03: Pendulum Feet

 * Housenka


 * Shadow Sickle

As ADR-04: Bubbles

 * 35mm α Houkai Sokushahou


 * Energy Bomb

As ADR-05: Creep Hands

 * Rasen no Benwan


 * Squeeze Vine

As ADR-06: Horn Striker

 * Engetsugeri


 * Baldy Blow

As ADR-07: Paratice Head

 * Kyougeki no Koudan


 * Möbius Bite

As ADR-08: Optimizer

 * 46 cm α Houkai Hou


 * Mjöllnir Thunder

As ADR-09: Gatekeeper

 * Active Wing


 * 35mm α Houkai Sokushahou

As Reaper

 * Shinigami no Kama
 * α Houkai Dan

As Mother Reaper

 * Shoumetsu no Hadou
 * 175mm α Houkai Dan